Volkswagen has stopped its Blackberry servers from sending emails to some of its staff out of office hours.
The move, which currently applies only to VW‘s German workforce, comes following complaints that out of hours emails were infringing on employees’ home life.
Senior management are exempt from the ruling and staff can still use their phones to make calls after work, but the servers stop sending emails 30 minutes after the end of shifts and start 30 minutes before they begin again.
Though VW is the first car manufacturer to take such action, several other European firms have also recognised the problem with round the clock emails. French IT firm Atos has claimed that it will go as far as banning internal email completely from 2014.
So far, no UK company has embraced such a policy. VW Germany’s arrangement was drawn up in association with trade unions and British union leaders have urged any organisation considering a similar move to first consult with its union before integrating such a scheme.
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