It’s part of a wider plan to create a healthier work-life balance for at remote workers.
The Portuguese parliament has recently passed a new labor laws which makes it illegal for employers to contact their employees after work hours. The new regulations are supposed to give workers a healthier work-life balance, especially for those working from home.
Employers could face penalties if they contact employees outside of work hours, and will be forced to pay for increased expenses as a result of working from home. These expenses include gas and electricity bills.
As part of the legislation, employers are also banned from monitoring their workers at home. Bosses are also required to meet face to face with their employees every to months to prevent the feeling of isolation. The Portuguese government hopes that the new legislations will encourage remote workers to move to the country.
The new rules are also useful for parents, as they have the right to work from home up until their child turns 8 years old, without having to arrange it in advance with their boss[es] first.
However, not all legislation designed to help remote workers was passed through parliament. The “Right to Disconnect” – which would give employees the ability to switch off their work devices outside of office hours – was not voted through by MPs.
Is This a Game Changer?
Portugal was one of the first countries that altered their remote working conditions following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary rules, implemented in January, made working from home a mandatory option (minus a few exceptions). Employers were obliged to accommodate to remote working, and provide their employees with the necessary tools.
Although remote working has brought a sense of flexibility for most, there have been issues such as unequal access to IT equipment – which is why the Portuguese government has had to step in.
During the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon last week, Portugal’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, said: “The pandemic has accelerated the need to regulate what needs to be regulated,”
“Telework can be a ‘game changer’ if we profit from the advantages and reduce the disadvantages.”
Godinho believes that building a healthy remote working culture can bring Portugal a wealth of benefits, primarily from foreign remote workers seeking a change of scenery.
“We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal,” she said.
Just this year, Spain began to trial a four-day working week, following the likes of Denmark and Norway. Now, with the new legislation in Portugal, could we begin to see the working world as we know it change completely?
