Work-Life Balance: The Case of Portugal vs. United States

By Haley Wadel

Work-life balance sets out to achieve an ideal balance between a person’s working life and private life.[1] It is a concept in which the maximum happiness of an employee acts as the fuel for productive and fulfilling work, for which both employer and employee are responsible.[2] An increasing number of employers are encouraging their employees to lead a more balanced lifestyle, as happy employees are ultimately more productive and motivated.[3] If companies continually destroy and employee’s private life with too much overtime or an unnatural amount of pressure, it could inevitably result in added stress, health problems, decreased productivity, and alienation from the company.[4]

This potential added stress increased when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and more people than ever before moved to a telework schedule, often blurring the lines between work time and home time. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) and Statista, the United States ranks 11th in the countries with the worst work-life balance.[5] In contrast, it ranks 27th out of 38 considered countries for best work-life balance.[6]

 To combat a worsening work-life balance, Portugal has modernized its labor laws to prevent employers from contacting workers after working hours.[7] Companies with more than ten staff members could face fines if they contact employees outside their contracted hours.[8]

This legislation was conceived by Portugal’s ruling Socialist party to improve work-life balance for citizens and to make Portugal a more attractive area for people who travel while telecommuting.[9] Other countries are also modernizing their labor laws for a right to disconnect, including France, Spain, Belgium. Slovakia, Italy, the Philippines, Argentina, and India.[10]

Ava Mendes Godinho, Portugal’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, stated during a tech conference that “the pandemic has accelerated the need to regulate what needs to be regulated . . . telework can be a ‘game changer’ if we profit from the advantages and reduce the disadvantages. We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote worker to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal.”[11]

The government also plans to implement additional rules to bolster workers from home.[12] This could include plans to offset loneliness and new rules on allowing staff with children to work remotely, as parents will be allowed to work at home indefinitely without seeking prior approval from their employers until their child(ren) turns eight.[13] However, Portugal has not approved a law in which workers have the ability to switch off work devices after working hours.[14]

Could this happen in the U.S.? Orly Lobel, professor of law at the University of San Diego thinks it is unlikely.[15] “I don’t think that we’ll see a firm requirement of employers to not at all contact employees during non-work hours. I just don’t see it as a frontier right now, when there are so many things that could be better,” Lobel stated.[16] While some states have laws against employers forcing employees to work overtime, Lobel thinks that adopting and enforcing rules about work hours on a federal level would be overly complex and contradictory to the nature of globalized professional work. [17]

Julie Kashen, the Director of Women’s Economic Justice at the Century Institute, additionally added that, historically, the U.S. has emphasized productivity, profits, and the bottom line above all else.[18] Kashen went on to state that the U.S. relies on a capitalist system that has never involved an equitable, inclusive version that “really addresses all of the different realities of being a human being.”[19] Lobel and Kasehn both think that America’s most realistic path towards improved work-life balance will have to come from companies instituting more accommodating policies.[20]

Conversely, Veena Dubal, professor of law at the University of California, thinks that it is “absolutely legally possible for U.S. lawmakers to pass a law similar to the one passed in Portugal.”[21] Dubal explained that “the impediment is twofold. One is rooted in the power of industry; the business lobby would never allow something like this to pass. The second is simply that U.S. lawmakers and courts have historically been very reticent to interfere with business decisions.”[22] Dubal believes that a cultural shift emerging through a labor movement might just be the way to get the ball rolling and update U.S. labor laws.[23]

In August 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs.[24] More than half of U.S. workers surveyed said they plan to look for a new job in the coming year, according to Bankrate;s August job seeker survey.[25] Coupled with some 56 percent of respondents said adjustable working hours and remote work are a top priority.[26] One thing is for certain, with an increasing amount of the workforce moving to a permanent or semi-permanent telework atmosphere, and the “great resignation” taking place in the U.S., employers will likely either need to update policies for better work-life balance or continue to face a staffing shortage and unhappy employees.

[1] Work-life balance, IONOS, (Mar. 14, 2019), https://www.ionos.com/startupguide/productivity/work-life-balance/#:~:text=Definition%3A%20work-life%20balance%20The%20work-life%20balance%20definition%20sets,for%20which%20both%20employer%20and%20employee%20are%20responsible.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Katharina Buchholz, Countries with the worst work-life balance, Statista, (Sep. 26, 2019), https://www.statista.com/chart/12997/countries-with-the-worst-work-life-balance/.

[6] Id. See also Work-Life Balance, OECD Better Life Index, https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/work-life-balance/.

[7] Portugal bans bosses texting staff after-hours, BBC, (Nov. 12, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59263300.

[8]  Id.

[9] Adrienne Matei, Portugal banned bosses from texting employees after work. Could it happen in the US?, The Guardian, (Nov. 15, 2021), https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/15/portugal-boss-texts-work-us-employment.

[10] Id.

[11] Scott Gleeson, Portugal made a law that bans texting employees after work. Why? For more teleworkers, USA Today, (Nov. 10, 2021), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/11/10/portugal-law-bans-boss-contact-employees-after-work-hours/6367092001/.

[12] Id.

[13] Supra note 8.

[14] Supra note 11.

[15] Supra note 9.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] Id.

[19] Id.

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Shawn Baldwin, The Great Resignation: Why millions of workers are quitting, CNBC, (Oct. 20, 2021), https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/19/the-great-resignation-why-people-are-quitting-their-jobs.html.

[25] Id.

[26] Id.