France’s ‘Right to Disconnect’ and 4 Other Countries Trying to Improve Work-Life Balance

French companies with more than 50 workers have been required to guarantee employees a “right to disconnect” from their emails outside office hours, to reduce stress and improve their work-life balance in a new law that came into effect on Jan. 1. Discussing the need for the law last year, Myriam El Khomri, the country’s minister of labor, noted “the boundary between professional and personal life has become tenuous.” Few workers today will disagree.