The government has unveiled details of its new Right to Disconnect legislation, which will guarantee workers the freedom to ignore work communications outside contracted hours by forcibly removing their ability to access them.
Under the new framework, enforcement officers from the newly established Department of Enforced Work-Life Balance will patrol office buildings at 5pm sharp, physically disconnecting ethernet cables and confiscating mobile devices from anyone still logged into work systems. The department has recruited 3,000 officers. Two hundred have prior experience in bailiff work.
“We’re committed to protecting workers from the always-on culture that has plagued modern employment,” said Jennifer Hartley, the department’s inaugural director. “If that means cutting your broadband at the router and changing your laptop password while you’re in the toilet, so be it.”
The legislation, which passed through Parliament with surprisingly little debate, grants enforcement officers powers including but not limited to: immediate device confiscation, temporary suspension of home internet services, and the authority to stand behind workers tutting loudly if they attempt to check emails after hours.
Trial runs in three London boroughs have already begun. In Southwark, officers disconnected power to an entire WeWork at 5:01pm last Thursday, affecting forty-seven workers and one person who was just there for the free coffee. In Islington, an enforcement squad confiscated twelve phones from a marketing agency, returning them the following morning with all work apps uninstalled and replaced with a meditation timer.
“People don’t understand how serious burnout is,” Hartley added. “Sometimes you need to be quite firm. Sometimes you need to physically wrestle a BlackBerry from someone’s hands in a Pret.”
The department has also introduced a controversial three-strikes policy. Workers caught checking emails outside contracted hours will receive a warning on first offence, a £50 fine on the second, and mandatory enrollment in a weekend workshop called Boundaries: They’re Not Just For Gardens on the third. The workshop is run by a man called Steve who used to work in IT but now lives on a narrowboat.
Business groups have raised concerns about the practicality of enforcement, particularly for workers in different time zones. The department has issued guidance stating that enforcement officers will use “common sense and discretion,” though it has also purchased 4,000 pairs of wire cutters.
Martin Chen, managing director of a financial services firm in Canary Wharf, said his team was adapting to the new reality. “We’ve started hiding backup phones in the toilet cisterns,” he said. “It’s like Prohibition but for Slack messages.”
The department begins nationwide enforcement next month. Officers will work strictly nine to five, Monday to Friday. Outside those hours, workers are welcome to email them with concerns.