WORK-LIFE BALANCE

That this House calls on the Government to enter into discussion with employers' representatives and trades unions to agree a protocol on ensuring that employees do not have to answer work emails whilst off-duty or out of hours; welcomes the introduction of similar rules in France which ensure that parents can spend quality time with children without work interruptions; notes that such a protocol would not prohibit those who choose to access their work email accounts at home but merely offer protections for those who choose not to do so; further notes that a deal agreed between French employers' federations and unions ensures that approximately one million workers in the consultancy and digital sectors are not sent work emails outside the hours of 9am to 6pm; further notes that job insecurity drives people to work longer hours which in turn damages productivity; further notes that the development of children in particular can suffer if they do not have a full interaction with their parent who might be preoccupied dealing with work emails; and calls for a protocol restricting digital working time in order to ensure a healthy work-life balance.