As the debate on the Right to Disconnect ramps up, a leading tax practitioner and the co-founder of Seed consultancy, Nicky Gouder, provides a new perspective, calling for employers to foster employee workspaces that is conducive to growth.

The right to disconnect is a measure allowing workers to refrain from engaging in work-related tasks, activities, electronic communication or other forms of communication outside of working hours.

On The Malta Independent’s current affairs programme, Indepth, Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba said that Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Carmela Abela – who is responsible for social dialogue, has indicated Government will not wait until the directive is officially transposed by the EU, a process which can take up to a year.

Providing fresh insight into the debate, Mr Gouder acknowledges that the initiative is a positive one, adding that “it is just as important for employers to create workspaces where employees are not counting down the seconds for the time they can disconnect”.

Indeed, he adds that “a workspace needs to be a place where employees look forward to going to because it is a place where they grow and enjoy what they are doing.”

Pre-empting challenges to this line of reasoning, he goes on to say:

“This is not pie in the sky, but it is something which every employee and employer should aim towards because it is very much achievable, contrary to what we have been told to believe.”