Senior public servants are to call for greater right to disconnect policies in their workplaces.
Members of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS) will gather in Dublin for the union’s annual conference.
A number of motions will highlight the need for disconnection policies with a recent survey showing that one in three AHCPS members regularly work beyond their required hours.
Around 83% of respondents said they receive emails and text messages outside of working hours and more than 60% of respondents said they have been contacted about work while on leave.
Speaking ahead of the conference, the union’s General Secretary Ciaran Rohan said delegates will be discussing the need for clarity around the Right to Disconnect.
“It’s clear from the responses from our members, and from the motions today, that the expectation to go ‘above and beyond’ is creating an unsustainable working environment and these are matters that should be part of the engagement we have with Departments,” Mr Rohan said.
Delegates will discuss a range of motions put forward by the union’s more than 4,000 civil servants and managers across 50 branches in the commercial and non-commercial State sector.
One motion calls for statutory paid leave for those who suffer a pregnancy loss before the current maternity leave cut-off point as well as for their partners, which is separate from sick leave entitlements.
Another calls for special leave arrangements for staff experiencing fertility-related issues and undergoing treatments for same.
Delegates will hear calls for domestic violence leave entitlements to be increased to 10 days.
Concerns will also be raised about claims that there have been ‘failures to engage in proper industrial relations’ by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, and at local level by some other Departments, with a number of motions calling for a return to genuine consultation and dialogue.
“It’s a source of frustration to us, and our members, that engagement from some Departments has fallen short of what should be expected as part of functioning industrial relations, and we are calling for a return to genuine consultation and dialogue,” Mr Rohan said.
The guest speaker at the conference is Solat Chaudhry, Group Chief Executive for the Irish Centre for Diversity, who will speak about the importance of the Irish civil and public service continuing to champion equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
