It’s a common complaint almost everywhere. . . . . cell phones keep us connected to our work, and our bosses, more than most want to be.  Many people in today’s world long for a “work/life” balance. . . . . especially in professions like funeral directing which can be a 24/7 proposition to many.

 

I was somewhat amused and very interested when I saw this article from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) that explained that Australia recently put into effect a “Right to Disconnect” law among employees.  In essence, the law “allows employees to ignore communications after hours if they choose to, without fear of being punished by their bosses” according to the article.

 

Again, according to the article, “The law does not ban employers from contacting workers after hours.  Instead, it gives staff the right not to reply unless their refusal is deemed unreasonable.”

 

For this 60-something, 40-year veteran of funeral home work, the “right to disconnect” from work seems very foreign to me.  However, this is the world we live in today and employees, even the best, have the right to claim their work/life balance during their time off.

 

A survey in Australia last year pointed out that “Australians worked on average 281 hours of unpaid overtime annually“.  By my calculations, using a 40-hour week as the “work week”, that is over 7 weeks of work without being compensated.

 

As I do with virtually every article I read in searching for Funeral Director Daily topics, I looked at this law through a funeral home lens.  Directing a funeral is a “detailed oriented job”.  There’s a lot to put in place and get set as to how the funeral or memorial service will flow including such details as how the family may want to line up automobiles for the trip to the cemetery.  Sometimes it is hard, for what we called a “Hand-off” to get completed with the exact arrangements a family wanted.

 

A “Hand-off” at our funeral home meant that the funeral director who made arrangements with the family would not be present at the services for one reason or another.  We required a formal “Hand-off” of the arrangements with the funeral director taking over the services before the first funeral director could leave.  It meant going over the entire arrangement and expected flow of services to follow.  Sometimes it was time consuming, sometimes it wasn’t, but everytime it was valuable so that we could actually give the family the service they asked for.

 

However, a phone call or text was sometimes necessary to the off-duty funeral director on service day. . . . .What if they didn’t answer?  — Well, then services may not have been as perfect as the family had asked for and our funeral home faced reputational risk.

 

I think this type of law, that according to the article is common place in 20 countries around the globe, is a push and reminder that your funeral home has to move to more technology if it isn’t using the latest technology already.  It’s my opinion that all service arrangements need to be at your fingertips. . . such as obtained simply by using your phone.

 

There are companies out there, such as Funeral365 which you can access here that are waiting to help your funeral home move into this “Next” experience.  Don’t wait until you forget the small detail of the services so important to the family that forgetting it will mean using another funeral home at the time of their next death.

 

Related Article — The Belgians getting the right to disconnect from work.  BBC

 

Historical Trivia Note:  For several years I served on a regional board of Wells Fargo Bank.  One of my colleagues on the board was Rick Ekstrand, CEO of public cell phone company Rural Cellular Corporation (RCC).  RCC was bought by Verizon in 2009 for a reported $2.67 billion.

 

To break the ice at each board meeting each member would mention something new or different about their business in the past month.  I still remember, and I’m guessing it was early in the 2000’s, when Rick made the comment, “Text messaging had surpassed voice calls last month in number at RCC”.

 

None of us around the table knew what “text messaging” was.  Rick explained it and said it was very popular with the students who had cell phones.  He told us that we will learn more about it in the future.  . . I guess he was right. . . . and if you remember, this was before smart phones, so those text messaging were doing so with the old system of telephone numbers that each had three letters on them. . . . if you are under 40 years of age and reading this you probably have no idea of what I’m talking about. . . . . .which just goes to prove that things change. . . .so get ready for “Right to Disconnect” laws in the United States.

 

Related Article — California becomes 1st State to push for “Right to Disconnect”.  April 2024 article.  HR Policy Association.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• 9 New Maine laws you need to know about.  (Natural Organic Reduction).  Print article.  92 Moose Radio (ME)
• Chaisity Shay Paddio-Owens is first African-American female mortician, funeral home owner in Jeff Davis.  American Press (LA)

 

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,074 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”