The Right to Disconnect Policy

Purpose

The health and wellbeing of all Alphawave Semi employees is vital to the execution of our goals.

As a company, we encourage and support our employee in prioritising their own wellbeing.

Disconnecting from work is vital for a person’s wellbeing as well as sustaining a good work-life

balance.

Alphawave Semi recognises that every employee has the right to, and should, disconnect from

work outside of their normal working hours unless there is an emergency or agreement to do so

for example while “on-call”.

To show our support and encourage employees to disconnect from work and create a good

work-life balance, whether an employee is working traditional hours in the workplace, working

remotely or has a flexible work arrangement, we have developed this policy which is in line with

best practice in support of an employee’s right to disconnect.

Scope

This policy applies to all Canadian employees of Alphawave Semi covered under the

Employment Standards Act and its subsidiaries ("the "company").

Definitions

Right to Disconnect - Defined to mean not engaging in work-related communications, including

emails, telephone calls, video calls or the sending or reviewing of other messages, to be free

from the performance of work.

Needs of the Business

There may, on occasions, be legitimate situations when it is necessary to contact colleagues/

clients/ customers outside of normal working hours, including but not limited to;

• Checking availability for coverage,

• To fill in at short notice for a sick colleague,

• Where unforeseeable circumstances may arise,

• Where an emergency may arise,

• Where business and operational reasons require contact out of normal working hours.

• Where business needs to be conducted with customers, employees in different time

zones.

Although everyone should be mindful of the right to disconnect, it is important that we are also

mindful that situations can arise where it is not possible to deal with matters during normal

working hours.

Employer and Employee Obligations

To encourage a culture where employees feel they can disconnect from work, it is important that

a joint approach is taken and that we recognise we all have obligations to achieve this goal.

Employer Obligations

• Provide employees with written policy on the right to disconnect, in accordance with

Bill 27, Working for Workers Act, 2021

• Ensure a safe workplace, by identifying risks and mitigate those risks.

• Not penalise an employee for acting in compliance with this policy and any relevant

provision or performing any duty or exercising any right.

Employee Obligations

• Manage your own working time while at work, take reasonable care to protect your

safety, health and welfare and the health and safety of co-workers.

• To fully cooperate with any time recording methods which Alphawave Semi may use

in order to record working time.

• To be mindful of fellow colleagues’, customers’/clients’, and all others, right to

disconnect (e.g., by not routinely emailing or calling outside normal working hours)

• Be conscious of your work pattern and aware of your work-related wellbeing and

taking remedial action if necessary.

Role of Management

Managers are responsible to ensure that employees within their team can disconnect from work

outside of normal working hours. Should an employee have concerns surrounding their working

time or is unable to disconnect from work, it is important that this is brought to the attention of

the Manager to try and resolve any concerns.

Managers should be mindful of times emails are sent and should they notice that a member of

their team is sending emails at odd hours or are logging in excessively, they should speak to the

employee as soon as possible, as this may indicate they are finding it difficult to manage their

workload during normal working hours.

Working Hours

Although, Alphawave Semi core hours are 8 am to 6 pm, employees are expected to work with

their managers to identify core hours that are appropriate for their role. All employees have the

right to disconnect in the context of their own normal working pattern and should you have any

queries regarding this, please speak to your manager.

Communications

It is important that all employee’s personal time is respected, and everyone has the right to

disconnect from work outside normal working hours. Therefore, where possible, e-mails etc.

should be sent only during normal working hours. Employees need to keep in mind that work

patterns and time zone differences will be different for most, and some employees may send

communications at a time which is inconvenient to another i.e., where one employee works

during the weekend, and another does not. In situations where this is the case, the sender

should consider the timing of their communication and understand that the recipient will not be

expected to respond until they return to work.

Where a manager sends communications outside normal working hours, unless business and

operational needs dictate that an immediate response is required, employees should not feel

the need to respond to communications received outside normal working hours.

Automatic Replies

All employees are required to utilize and set-up Outlook Automatic Replies (Out of Office) when

taking vacation. The response should advise the sender that you are on vacation, including the

start and end date of your leave and that you will respond to their email on your return or

alternative contact details should be provided in the automatic response.

In addition to the above, your manager will notify you should you be required to use the

Automatic Replies (Out of Office) at the end of your normal working day, which will simply

advise the sender of your normal working hours and that you will respond to their email on your

return to work.

Meetings

It is important that virtual and face to face communication also respects the time of all meeting

participants. Meeting organizers need to be mindful of the time of meeting participants and

ensure that everyone is required and will plan an active role in the meeting. Minutes should be

shared with those who don’t need to attend the meeting but need to be aware of the meeting

contents.

Employee Wellbeing

As previously mentioned, the health and wellbeing of our employees is of great importance to

us, and we strongly encourage everyone to adapt, if needed, and maintain a good work-life

balance. We encourage everyone, to be proactive, and book in time with family/ friends or

engage in an activity after their normal working day to allow themselves to switch off and

disconnect from work.

In addition, it is important that those with a flexible work schedules or remote work, disconnect

themselves from work and monitor their working hours. Remember to take your breaks as this

is also important for your wellbeing. Good rule of thumb is to get up for 10 min every hour to

stretch, grab a something to drink, etc.

Here are some tips to prompt you to regularly step away and rebuild your energy.

• Agree break times with your peers and help each other to stick to the break time you’ve

agreed.

• Set an alarm on your phone to prompt you.

• Plan to do something in your break that you enjoy – the anticipation of pleasure will

motivate you to keep to the break.

• Pay attention to any benefits you experience when you take a break – this will lodge in

your mind and motivate you to take breaks in future.

• Use post-it notes or drawings in your workspace to remind you that a project is a long-

term piece of work – you won’t complete it well, if you burn yourself out: so, take a break.

Raising Concerns

Should an employee have any issues in exercising their right to disconnect, they should raise

this with their manager immediately to resolve the issues on an informal basis.

Where the issue is unresolved or an agreement cannot be reached, should raise their concern

with Human Resources.

Version

Date Drafted

Drafted by

Reviewed by

Date

Reviewed

Next Review

date

V1.0

Dec-21

M. Jones

D. Aharoni

1-Jan-22

1-Jan-23