The Labour Party has proposed new legislation to boost employment protection for the almost 800,000 people who are doing some or all of their work from home, including a "right to disconnect" from out-of-hours communications.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the Working from Home (Covid-19) Bill 2020, which will be debated in the Dáil tomorrow, the party's employment affairs spokesperson Senator Marie Sherlock raised concerns about the impact of working from home on workers.
She acknowledged that remote working had been a positive experience for many workers, but cited a Labour survey of 305 respondents, one third of whom reported negative effects on their mental health as one of the main drawbacks.
The survey also suggested that the most common problem with remote working was the lack of a suitable workplace at home - with private renters more than twice as likely to say remote working had been problematic compared to owner-occupiers.
Ms Sherlock cited one respondent as saying: "Working two feet from your bed for eight hours a day is bound to have an impact on health and stress".
She said Ireland was one of very few European Union countries without adequate legal protections for remote working, and warned that more flexible working must be accompanied by stronger protections for home-based workers.
Senator Sherlock said the Labour bill would require employers to provide a suitable home workstation, with appropriate IT equipment and a suitable chair.
The bill also calls for a single flat rate payment from employers to employees to assist with the added costs of home working, "...rather than leaving such support at the employer's discretion".
She said this would replace existing supports for home working, which could be difficult to access.
The proposed Labour legislation would also provide for a legal right to disconnect from out-of-hours communications.
Ms Sherlock said the survey indicated that over 40% of respondents had criticised the "blurring" of lines between work and home.
"This is simply not sustainable as the number of people working from home has grown from just over 200,000 at the beginning of 2020 to almost 800,000 today," she concluded.
