QUITE often I’ll merrily draft my column at some bizarre hour. I’m not a full blown insomniac, but I do have problems sleeping. I’ll regularly rattle around the house at 3am, cup of tea in one hand and laptop in another. I’d rather be productive than spend time staring at the ceiling.

My working habits are slightly perplexing. A lengthy attention span isn’t one of my strengths, so I regularly have things I need to catch up on. That generally means emails in the evening and the odd report at the weekend.

I don’t know if any readers are the same, but I actually find being able to work out of hours is incredibly useful. It’s not something that bothers me. Certainly in many industries, the days of clocking in at 9am and wrapping up at 5pm are long gone. Some of my most productive work takes place after a pint on a Sunday afternoon with the football on.

To be honest, even if I wanted to, I probably couldn’t avoid the relentless bombardment of messages. The emergence of smart phones has long since banished the notion of email free evenings in front of the television.

Our friends across the channel have taken extreme measures to curb the blurring of our work and social lives. They have introduced rules to protect people working in the digital and consultancy industry. A deal signed by employers and unions says that workers will have to switch off phones and dodge checking email once they leave the office. In addition, and perhaps most fundamentally, businesses cannot pressure staff into working out of hours.

Quite how the French plan on policing and monitoring these rules remains to be seen. That said, I admire the proactive approach towards a problem that can spiral if left uncurbed. I work out of hours because I’m happy to. Many other employees will be feverishly beavering away late into the night because they feel obliged to. The lines get blurred when people are being pressurised to work during what should be family time.

I guess it depends if the costs outweigh the benefits. Another massive positive from my perspective is the latest technology allows me to work flexibly. My office is wherever I have a laptop and a phone.

Although I applaud the French for taking a stand, I do wonder if they’re behind the times with this. Quite frankly, the world has changed. It’s a case of adapt or get left behind.