Can I Switch Off? I Can’t Breathe!

The digitalization of workplaces is a ‘double-edged sword’. While information communication technology (ICT) can enhance flexibility at workplaces enabling work-life balance, the constant availability of workers due to electronic access during off-hours has caused several deleterious impacts on industrial relations, health and well-being, work-family balance, autonomy, and the privacy of modern-day workers. A wave of global legislative responses occurred as a response to hyper-connectivity to workplaces enabled by ICT in industrialized countries. This article explores these legal responses against the growing overwork pandemic because of electronic communication. It appraises the efficacy of international labour standards on the right to disconnect and offers a critical examination of the French legislative model, the first express legislation on the right to switch off, and the global push for disconnection created with its enactment. Legislative responses stimulate intense debate, placing the problem of over connectivity at the centre of the discussion. However, diversity of workplaces, types and modes of working, and the absence of enforcement mechanisms raise questions on the efficiency of the legislative model. The article explores the efficacy of the self-regulation model as an alternative to the legislative model. Such a model that supports national, sectoral, organizational, company-specific collective agreements designed to address the different needs and preferences of workers and to respond dynamically to ICT advancements and industrial regulations are preferable to assure a viable switch off from workplaces in the modern work world.