SWIFT Half was California dreaming again this week after learning that workers in the US state are close to being able to tell their bosses to do one.
The ‘right to disconnect’ gives employees protection from being contacted by their employers outside their working hours, meaning they can ignore emails, texts and calls without fear of a bollocking the next day.
Workers in Australia recently joined those in countries including Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium in enjoying the measure in some form.
And Labour has even promised it will introduce it in the UK if (when?) it gets back into power later this year.
But recent developments suggesting their plans will be watered down over concerns for businesses meant we couldn’t help but just wish we all could be Californian when news of their possible adoption of the right was reported in The Times.
The state would be the first in the US to implement the law if a bill proposed by San Francisco politician Matt Haney goes through.
It would allow California’s workplace regulator to investigate and fine employers who violate the proposal – and hopefully inspire British politicians to follow their lead, as they often do.
People’s champion and Swift Half hero Haney said: “Work has changed drastically compared to what it was just ten years ago. Smartphones have blurred the boundaries between work and home life.
“Workers shouldn’t be punished for not being available 24/7 if they’re not being paid for 24 hours of work.”
Staff in the US will be praying the measure – which is slightly less bizarre than the one giving whales human rights – goes through, and that it spreads across the other 49 states.
Critics claim it will affect workers who want to do overtime and that it could increase costs for businesses.
But it seems Americans are already working hard enough. Figures from the OECD show employees in the US logged an average of 1,811 hours a year in 2022, compared with 1,532 hours in the UK and 1,511 in France.
That’s almost seven average working weeks more for knackered US workers than their counterparts across the Pond.
So much for the American dream.