PARIS, April 10 (UPI) -- France has now required employers' federations and unions to sign a legally binding agreement that will force their staff to switch off their phones after 6 p.m. and not turn them back on until 9 a.m.
The ban comes after the government noticed the country's famous 35-hour work week was being threatened by the ability of bosses to reach their employees through their smartphones.
The legally-binding contract requires that between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. a million employees in the technology and consultancy sectors -- including the French branches of Facebook and Google -- must ignore the beeping, buzzing, ringing intrusion of work on their smartphones and computers. The time is meant to be spent on the "good life."
This isn't the only part of the war on work phones. French President Francois Hollande banned cellphones from weekly cabinet meetings, telling ministers they have to check them at the door. When asked if Hollande handed over his phone at the week's meeting, the spokesperson for the president said, "I didn't go and check."
[HuffPost Live] [The Guardian] [LesEchos]
