A female employee is working overtime at her desk. Photo: VCG

As remote online work has become increasingly convenient due to the development of technology in recent years, office workers’ leisure hours have been gradually encroached upon by their jobs. During the ongoing annual two sessions, a political advisor proposed legislation on employees’ rights to stay offline and away from their work during non-working hours and to increase the costs of illegal activities for companies involved in invisible overtime practices and the proposal has been registered. 

According to Lü Guoquan, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, as well as director of the General Office of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the relevant departments will talk with him about the proposal he submitted on guaranteeing workers’ right to offline rest and will give him a response, the CNR reported on Sunday. 

Lü has suggested that China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions should conduct research and said he thinks it is not sustainable for companies or workers to obtain the necessary survival conditions by overwork.

At present, invisible overtime has become a social phenomenon. Last December, a woman from Southwest China’s Sichuan Province spent three hours and a half quitting over 600 WeChat work groups after she quit her job. Her story sparked heated discussions online with many netizens commenting that due to the presence of work groups, work exists anytime and anywhere and they felt scared whenever they heard the buzzing of the cellphone. 

According to Lü, the right to offline rest refers to workers' right to refuse work-related communication or handling work matters via digital tools outside of the legally stipulated or agreed-upon working hours. In 2016, France introduced the “right to disconnect” in its Labor Code, which entails the provision of “the right to disconnect from work-related digital networks and not accept employers’ instructions and work.”

In the digital era, information technology has had work transcend temporal and spatial constraints, offering flexible working arrangements but also blurring the “boundaries” between work and life, Lü said, noting that some employers require employees to enter working groups and arrange them work during non-working hours through WeChat. Such practices violate employees’ right to rest and privacy. 

Thus, Lü suggested that the right to offline rest should be introduced into the legislation of labor law and increase the penalties on companies involved in invisible overtime practice.

Lü also said there should be a clear definition of online overtime and compensation for working overtime and step up efforts in regulating the labor system in terms of salaries, rest and paid leave, noting this should also be included in the labor security mechanism. 

Meanwhile, he suggested to comprehensively consider the multiple factors including frequency of online overtime, duration, salary standards and work content to determine overtime pay as appropriate. 

Moreover, Lü suggested to intensify the supervision and increase the penalties on employers’ invisible overtime posed on employees and to increase their cost of breaking the law. The mechanism for employees to safeguard their rights should also be improved, Lü said. 

A survey on young people’s overtime situation in 2023 conducted by dtcj.com shows that over 90 percent employees had invisible overtime including 60 percent experienced invisible overtime frequently. The top three invisible overtime practices including responding to work-related messages after work, participating in training or competitions organized by companies and standing by at any time despite without specific task assigned. Besides, as many as 73 percent of the people said they could not finish their workload if they do not work overtime. 

On January 23, China’s first case of “invisible overtime” clarified in legal documents was adjudicated. The worker’s “right to offline rest” has, for the first time in practical terms, been safeguarded. 

The Beijing Municipality No.3 Intermediate People’s Court concluded after trial that concerning the use of social media platforms such as WeChat for work, if employees engage in work activities beyond simple communication during non-working hours, contributing substantial labor content, or if they work through social media periodically and regularly which significantly encroach upon the employees’ rest time, it should be considered as overtime. 

Global Times