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25 Jun 2025

The E-Bike Positive campaign has seen major success in the first half of 2025, with its message reaching nearly 8 million people across the UK through high-profile media coverage and growing...

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on...

20 Jun 2025

Activate Cycle Academy has reopened its Cytech training facility in Darlington, offering a full range of courses from Home Mechanic up to Cytech Technical Three.
 

18 Jun 2025

The Association of Cycle Traders believes the time has come for greater accountability throughout our supply chain, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.

16 Jun 2025

The ACT has welcomed the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking's report "Unregulated and Unsafe: The Threat of Illegal E-Bikes", which calls for urgent Government action to...

11 Jun 2025

A new academic study has found that overzealous pro-cycling campaigners on social media may be inadvertently damaging the case for better cycling infrastructure across the UK.

11 Jun 2025

Bira has welcomed the Welsh Government's consultation on business rate reforms for retail shops, whilst calling for significant improvements to ensure the proposals truly support high street...

10 Jun 2025

Bike thefts across England and Wales have continued their steady decline, according to new data released by cycle insurance specialist Bikmo.

9 Jun 2025

Retailers on Britain's high streets are being encouraged to put themselves forward for the first-ever Love Your High Street Awards, designed to celebrate the small businesses that bring...

9 Jun 2025

 To coincide with Bike Week (9-15 June) – the UK’s annual celebration of cycling – new research has revealed a clear shift amongst Gen Z and Millennials in their approach...

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More than a third of business leaders would vote against UK ‘switch off’ law for employees

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

Over a third of business leaders have said they would vote against the introduction of a law in the UK that would protect an employee’s right ‘to switch off’, similar to the law now in place in France.

B2B service comparison website iCompario surveyed 2,000 UK employees on their views to introduce a similar employee right ‘to switch off’ law here. The legislation, which was introduced in France in 2017, bans employers from expecting employees to engage in communications, such as emails, outside of working hours.  The data found that almost two thirds of UK workers would support a similar law being introduced here.

iCompario also asked UK employees about pressure they feel to be contactable and respond to emails when not in work, as well as how easily they are able to ‘switch off’ during time off.

Despite the number of those in business leadership roles opposed to the introduction of a ‘right to disconnect’ law, more than half of those in senior roles felt ‘very pressured’ to check work emails and correspondence outside of their contracted work hours (53%).

3.5 million UK workers ‘feel very pressured’ to check their work emails and other job-related correspondence outside of their contracted working hours, with a further 6.5million ‘feeling some pressure’ to do so.  Only a third of those surveyed ‘don’t feel any pressure’ to check emails when not in work.

A further 1.8 million UK employees admit they put pressure on themselves to do this, meaning it doesn’t come from their employer.

According to the findings UK employees take an average of 5.7 days to truly switch off when out of office, but with typical holidays abroad for Brits lasting just 8.7 days on average, the time spent relaxing reduces substantially to just 3 days on average.

Downtime disappears completely when you consider UK adults spend just 3.3 days when holidaying on home soil.

One in seven admit they’re never able to switch off (14%) while on holiday.

The survey findings support the notion that employees who constantly check their work emails never truly switch off, and really enforces the act of allowing yourself a regular break from work and the comms that come with it as an essential step in being able to relax properly.

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