Action for Freelancers (AfF) has published guidance aiming to enhance work-life balance by minimising out-of-hours contact in television.
Published with endorsement from the Channel 4, UKTV, BBC Studios, ITV Studios, Fremantle, Banijay UK, Bectu and CIISA, Contact: A Guide to Work-Life Boundaries provides guidance for commissioners, production companies, managers and freelancers.
Recognising out-of-hours contact as a consistent source of stress and burnout in the industry, the guidance follows the Film and TV Charity’s 2024 Looking Glass survey which found 35 per cent of the workforce rated their mental health as poor, citing long hours and work-life balance as key reasons.
The AfF guidance aims to set a shared standard enabling freelancers to understand what to expect no matter where they work, with seven key principles defining a framework that lets people work in the way that suits them, without it becoming an unspoken obligation for others on the team.
Agreed common standards are a key aim for AfF, with this project intended as a template for standards that follow. The principles were developed by the organisation’s Working Conditions working group, which includes freelancers, broadcasters and production companies, and align with the CIISA standards and point production leaders to the Film and TV Charity’s Principles for Mentally Healthy Productions.
The principles are summarised as:
- Leaders must model the behaviour – senior figures set the tone, and reassurance that not responding out of hours carries no penalty must be repeated throughout a production
- Set contact windows, rotate on-call responsibility, or time-shift – including at least 11 hours free of messages between wrap and next call, in line with Working Time Regulation
- Agree what counts as a real emergency – before production starts, and document it at inductio
- Use the right channel for the right level of urgency – WhatsApp and direct messages for genuinely time-sensitive issues only
- Use delay-send, add clear labels to emails and messages – so a flexible working pattern never becomes implied urgency for the receive
- Make it safe to raise concerns – including anonymously, in line with CIISA Standards (Open and Accountable Reporting Mechanisms
- Support flexible working – no individual’s working pattern should ever create an obligation, spoken or unspoken, for someone else to match it.
James Taylor-Tovey, project director of Action for Freelancers said, “As freelancers we’ve all had the production WhatsApp group pinging into the night, or emails landing over the weekend. It’s crept up on us – the same phone that holds your family photos now holds your work inbox. These deceptively simple guidelines could have a huge impact on setting boundaries between work and home life. I also know that when freelancers are relaxed, fully rested, and less stressed, they bring their best selves to work and do a better job.”
Kate Phillips, chief content officer, BBC added, “These practical guidelines are invaluable to everyone involved in a production. We need to respect the boundaries between work and home life, and the downtime needed by all to help ensure long term health and happiness.”
