A little over a year ago, the French telecoms operator signed an agreement on digitalisation with three unions representing 58.5% of staff. It was the first of the French CAC 40 companies to execute such an agreement. Four commitments are enshrined in this three-year arrangement, one of which is a guaranteed “right to disconnect” for employees including - and this was also a first -  during working hours.

Since 1 January 2017, firms with more than 50 employees must “initiate talks on the right to disconnect and implement digital application use-regulation procedures with an eye to ensuring respect for rest and leave time, as well as personal and family life”. ¹  However, in practice, these measures are difficult to apply. A July 2017  Ifop poll revealed that almost 80% of executives consult and reply to business-related emails during their free time, and this trend has been rising sharply since 2015.  

To address this issue,  ANACT (National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions) offers an online instrument, that was designed in conjunction with a trade association and that is intended to help the stakeholders  assess the state of play in companies in respect of quality of the working environment as part of digitalisation.


¹ Article 55 of the Act of 8 August 2016

For more information: orange.com