
Working from home just got more manageable in Portugal.
There are a lot of great advantages that come with working from home. There's no commute. It's easier to care for your kids. And you can do your job while sitting in your comfiest pair of sweats.
However, one of the major drawbacks is that your home starts to become more like your office. It's a lot harder to leave work at the office when you can hop on your computer and start working at any moment. That makes it difficult to completely disconnect from your job when it's time to relax and spend time with the family.
Portugal took dramatic steps to improve work-life balance in the country on Friday when it approved a new set of laws to address the changing workplace. Under the new laws, employers can face penalties for contacting their employees outside of office hours.
That means you don't have to respond to emails while you're making dinner or feel stressed that you'll have to text your boss while relaxing at a weekend barbecue. There's also something wonderful about knowing that you won't be blindsided by a work request while you're getting some quality R and R.
The new laws also mandate that employers help pay for expenses incurred by remote working, such as higher electricity and internet bills.
The new laws forbid employers from monitoring employees when they work from home, while allowing parents of young children to work from home without making arrangements in advance.
The laws are limited to companies with 10 employees or more.
"The pandemic has accelerated the need to regulate what needs to be regulated," Minister of Labour and Social Security Ana Mendes Godinho said, according to Euro News.
Portuguese officials hope the new laws will make the country a more attractive place for remote workers to relocate.
"We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal," she continued.
In a new law, Portugal just made it illegal for your boss to text you after work.\n\nMeanwhile, America is the only country in the developed world without paid family leave. Not only can our bosses text us after work, but they can text us to come in on the same day our kid is born.— Fifty Shades of Whey (@Fifty Shades of Whey) 1636398156
Portugal's new labor laws make it seem as though the country is far ahead of the labor curve; however, France was focused on work-life balance six years ago. In May 2016, France enacted a new "right to disconnect" rule that says if you're a company of 50 employees or more, you cannot email an employee after typical work hours.
These new laws were designed to allow workers to distance themselves from the office when they're off and to allow them to get the full advantage of their time off.
"All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant," Benoit Hamon of the French National Assembly told the BBC in 2016. "Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash — like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails — they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down."
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."