Britain’s Labour government is watering down ambitions to give employees a legal right to ignore work demands outside office hours, favoring softer rules that had limited impact for workers in Ireland.
Rather than seeking legislation for the “right to switch off,” ministers instead will push for a code of practice for businesses, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. The government is modeling its approach on Belgium and Ireland, which have guidelines on out-of-hours communications, and in contrast with France and Portugal, where the right to disconnect is enshrined in law.