Portugal’s new law on working from home makes the European Union country sound like a workers’ paradise.
Andreia Sampaio sits at her computer as she works from home, in Lisbon, Friday, Nov. 26, 2021. Portugal’s new law on working from home has grabbed attention around the world for the way it protects staff. Under the new rules, companies can’t attempt to contact their employees outside working hours. They must also help staff pay for their home gas, electric and internet bills. And bosses are forbidden from using digital software to track what their teleworkers are doing.
In many places around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a prior trend toward the digitalization of work and more flexible work arrangements. Amid such a sudden and massive shift in the employment landscape, governments are scrambling to accommodate working from home in their employment laws. Those efforts are largely still in their infancy.
During the pandemic some countries have recommended teleworking. Others — like Portugal — have demanded it. Most EU countries have specific legislation on teleworking, though with different approaches, and others are considering it through amendments, extensions or conventions. “We have to have common sense,” she says, adding that she doesn't mind being contacted out of hours if it's an urgent matter. “We have to judge each case by its merits.”
Nevertheless, practical questions abound: must staff be taken off company email lists when their shift finishes and then put back on when they start work again? What about Europeans who work in financial markets and need to know what’s going on in, say, Hong Kong, and have colleagues working in different time zones?
Teleworking rules need to be flexible, tailored to each sector and negotiated between employers and staff, says Luís Henrique of the confederation’s legal department.
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