The IT and BPO industry in India is closely watching how a French move to ban work emails beyond office hours could impact it.
Media reports suggested that employees cannot be penalised for not accessing office mails before or after the work hours, giving a great deal of relief to employees.
France, like some other European Union countries, has a good presence of Indian IT firms. Ganesh Natarajan, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zensar Technologies, felt that the move would not have any impact on the Indian IT industry. “Not really, because our industry typically works in the client’s office timings,” he said.
ITsAP (IT industry association of Andhra Pradesh) Vice-President Ramesh Loganathan said that it was not at all surprising as the French value work-life balance very much. “In fact, most European countries follow a strict per week work schedule. In France, they work for about 35 hours a week,” he said.
But he said it was not clear who all were covered by the new norm. “If we know who are all covered, we can then see how this could pan out. It is not clear as yet,” he said.