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Telework, which involves working online, is already becoming more common in many countries around the world, and in Japan, the government began to put more effort into promoting it around 2018. One of the aims was to ease traffic congestion in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the unforeseen situation of the spread of the coronavirus infection led to the move to accelerate. Of course, it is true that there are jobs where teleworking is not possible or suitable depending on the type of job or work environment, but there is no doubt that this situation has led to the spread of teleworking at companies, and it is expected to continue to spread in the future.
The advancement of teleworking has caused major changes in the way we work, the most important of which is "time." We are now free from the traditional cycle of going to the office at a set time, doing our work, and then going home. As long as we have a computer and a good internet connection, we can work from home, a satellite office, or even a cafe or hotel. This will mean a shift from the traditional way of working that is tied down to time to a more flexible way of working.
At first glance, this seems like a good thing, but on the other hand, since you have to control your own working hours, there is a risk that the more serious you are, the more likely you are to work long hours and become exhausted. Traditionally, you were in the office and had set working hours, so you could put a stop to your work for today, but with teleworking, you can do as much as you want if you want, so you may end up working too much without realizing it. Also, since it becomes difficult to distinguish between work and private life, there is a concern that your body and mind will not rest and will be damaged.
In light of these circumstances, the "right to disconnect" is now attracting attention. In France, the "right to disconnect" was included in the revised labor law of 2016, allowing workers to refuse work-related contact from their company outside of working hours, and companies are working to create rules to prevent long working hours and excessive work that come with the spread of the Internet.
The "right to be disconnected" was originally a concept proposed by Professor Jean-Emmanuel Rey of the University of Paris 1 in 2002, based on concerns about how new technologies such as mobile phones, which were beginning to become widespread at the time, would change the way people worked. In the 2010s, the spread of smartphones also helped to boost this issue, and it became more widespread throughout France. The French are a people who have always placed great importance on their private life, and they draw a clear line between work and private life, to the point that they will easily take several weeks off for vacation. These discussions can be said to have begun as a reaction to the fact that technological developments mean that people are now receiving frequent work-related communications whether they are away from the office or on vacation.
Another factor behind this discussion is the rapid shift towards white-collar work in the French labor market. Traditionally, France has been clearly divided into elite and non-elite classes, with the elite working tirelessly for a long time, even sacrificing sleep, while the non-elites generally went home as soon as the regular shift began, since they knew they would not get promoted no matter how hard they worked. However, in recent years, with the development of technology, the middle class has become more white-collar, and more people are beginning to think that if they work hard, they may be able to get promoted, or that they may be able to become a manager and receive a decent salary.
As a result, overwork is no longer an issue specific to the elite, but is a common problem for many workers. This has resulted in scenes that were previously unthinkable in France, such as people working online even while on vacation, and has led to concerns about overwork and the associated damage to health and mental health. In light of this background, the "right to disconnect" was enacted into law in 2016, but major companies such as Renault and Peugeot had already adopted it as their own internal system around 2013, and the legal system has supported the efforts of leading companies.
In France, the discussion of the "right to be disconnected" began as a rejection of the erosion of personal privacy due to technological development, but has since progressed to the issue of overwork for non-elites due to the expansion of white-collar work, and is now evolving into the question of "how should we engage with technology?" What this means is that the discussion is about whether it is good to be constantly connected to the Internet even while working. I have also had the experience of coming to the lab in the morning, turning on my computer to start working, only to find that I have received a large number of emails, and as I am busy replying to them, I am running out of time. It would be a case of putting the cart before the horse if technology, which is originally intended to improve the efficiency of work, is hindering work and reducing productivity.
The current debate in France about the "right to disconnect" has reached the next stage, going beyond "not being able to connect to the Internet when you leave the workplace" to "setting aside time during work when you are not connected." However, perceptions of this vary by generation, and it is possible that, conversely, there are more and more younger generations who feel uneasy if they are not connected. Taking all of this into account, the current situation is one in which each generation is exploring what kind of distance they should maintain from technology such as the Internet.
The "right to disconnect" was enacted into law in France and was later enacted into law in Italy, and is spreading from Europe and the US to Asia. However, even in France, a uniform legal regulation that says "please do not connect to the Internet between a certain time and a certain time" is not realistic, so the system is one in which each company should "proceed in a way that suits them." If the "right to disconnect" were to be enacted into law in Japan, I think it would have to have a similar system, but I think it would be better to have such a law in place.
Teleworking is based on the premise of being connected to the Internet, so it is inevitable that the boundaries between the workplace and home, and work and private life will become ambiguous. In addition, there are various issues, such as how not only workers but also managers and other people in a position to manage workers should evaluate employees' work performance in teleworking. In order to overcome these issues, I think guidelines through legislation will be necessary. Unfortunately, labor laws are often not strictly followed. However, their existence can serve as a guideline or a deterrent, and their role is not small. If the "right to be disconnected" is legalized in Japan in the future, it will become a guideline and a guideline for companies that are thinking of taking a proactive approach.
The most basic labor law is the Labor Standards Act. This law sets the minimum standards for working, the bare minimum. In other words, it is like a guardrail that tells you that it is not acceptable to deviate from this. The basic idea is that each company should seek a better way to do things. However, in recent years, as society has become more diverse and changes have become more rapid, I think that there is a growing demand for a role to show a direction, such as "work style reform," that is, "this is the direction we need to go in in the future." Another important theme is "conflict resolution." When some kind of trouble occurs, it is important to show guidelines for resolving it. This is also a role that labor laws should play in the future.
So far, we have looked at new ways of working and the state of the law under the theme of "the right to be disconnected." But I would like to broaden my perspective a little and list some interesting aspects of the academic field of law for those who are thinking about studying law in the future. In a certain anime about a shrunken detective, there is a catchphrase that says, "There is always only one truth," but law is a field that teaches us that there is not only one truth. When dealing with disputes in the legal world, in most cases both sides have their reasons, and it is rare for one side to be 100% correct. I think that the academic field of law is the clearest example of the fact that there can be various views on a single event depending on one's position.
When faced with a variety of viewpoints, which one to choose and why, one's own values emerge, such as "I think this is correct" or "I think society should be like this." This is the most interesting part of studying law. I began studying labor law because, along with commercial law, I thought that labor law was an academic field that could give a more vivid insight into the true nature of human beings. Studying this field was perfect for learning about "what is a person" and "what is society."
Law can also be said to be the process by which people justify what they want to do. When you want to do something that has no precedent, even if there is no exact precedent, legal thinking involves thinking about whether you can justify it somehow by bringing up a similar example. When persuading someone, instead of simply saying "This is what I think," you need to pull from a precedent and present your opinion in a persuasive way that everyone can see as correct. I think this will be a very useful skill when you go out into society, for example when proposing something or making a presentation within an organization.
Why do we need laws in the first place? In the ancient world, everyone lived with the same values, so there was no need for laws, but when people with different values began to live in the same society, they needed guidelines to say, "Let's follow these rules for now." In that sense, laws are a tool for communication between people.
People in the world of law live by the value that "there is no single truth," so when conflicts of opinion arise, they are good at finding a happy medium while presenting each side's argument. As society becomes increasingly diverse and complex in the future, law can be said to be a very important academic field in society of the future, as it is one of the communication tools for knowing how to interact with people of different origins and values. (Published January 2021)