Human resources expert Lara Nersesian said workers should understand what their rights are if the Right to Disconnect law applies to them. (Credit: Provided/Getty)
Australian workers are being urged to speak out as the “right to disconnect” comes into force from Monday. The new workplace law is a reform designed to help people achieve a better work-life balance, giving them the power to refuse unreasonable contact outside of working hours.
Your boss isn’t prohibited from contacting you, but they have the right not to respond to calls, texts, Slack messages, or even Signal.
To make this work, human resources expert Lara Narsesian told Yahoo Finance, all workers need to do one thing: speak up about what they feel is unreasonable and set clear boundaries.
“One of the things I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with when it comes to their personal boundaries in the workplace is the ability to say no,” she said.
“No is a complete sentence, but it’s often the hardest thing for individuals to say.”
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The new law has support from workers: In a survey of more than 1,400 Yahoo Finance readers, half said they don’t want to be bothered about work outside of work hours.
Additionally, 31% said they would understand contact outside of working hours if it was necessary for work, but only 5% thought receiving messages or calls outside of working hours was “no big deal.”
Nersessian said the best way for workers to find their voice to say “no” starts with understanding their rights in the workplace.
Next, decide what you’re comfortable with when it comes to contact outside of work.
Finally, they need to have an honest discussion with their manager about their limitations.
But that may not be as easy as it sounds.
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Some employees have built their careers on the motto of never leaving work before their boss.
But a generational shift is putting Baby Boomer ideals at odds with the approach of Gen Z and millennial bosses.
“So much of the way work has traditionally been centered around who’s working the latest in the office,” Nersessian says.
“If you’re perceived as someone who’s always responding to emails or staying in the office and working long hours, you’re outperforming others on your team and therefore your performance will be perceived as high.”
HR experts said this was evidence that there was still a long way to go in changing the mindset that time spent equates to quality.
“The sooner organizations can truly reward people for productivity and results, rather than just chores, the better the results will be,” she said.
“I see this as a win-win-win situation for everyone,” she said.
The right to disconnect will change how companies communicate with workers outside of work hours. (Yahoo Finance/Getty)
What is the right to disconnect? How the law applies in Australia
Fair Work announced that the new laws will come into force for non-small and medium-sized businesses on Monday 26 August.
It will be another year before it applies to small and medium-sized businesses.
They are protected under the Fair Work Act
So what does that mean? The key word to consider is irrational communication.
Fair Work states that the following factors will be taken into account when determining what is and is not reasonable:
Reason for contact
Whether employees are compensated for available hours and overtime hours
The nature of employee roles and responsibilities
Personal circumstances, including family and caregiving responsibilities
What if the right to disconnect is violated?
Disputes should first be discussed at work and if they can’t be resolved there they can be taken to the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
The FWC can:
For more information about your rights, please click here.
Why do we need the right to disconnect?
This is a growing concern, especially as the rise of technology and options such as working from home mean that employees are increasingly expected to be available for their employers at all times.
Australians are losing time from friends, family and passions – but it’s also costing them money.
A 2023 study by the Centre for Future Work estimates that Australians are working an extra 5.4 hours of unpaid work per week, or 280 hours per year.
That’s $130 billion in lost income, and comes at a time when many people struggling with the cost of living are already feeling the need to take on second jobs.
The pressure to be “always online”
Research showing Australians are working longer than the typical nine-to-five extends beyond the Australia Institute.
A Robert Half survey revealed that 87 percent of Australian workers have been contacted by a colleague outside of working hours.
A survey of more than 1,400 Yahoo! Finance readers revealed that 50% of respondents strongly prefer not to be bothered by work-related issues outside of work hours.
Additionally, 31% said they would understand contact outside of working hours if it was necessary for work, but only 5% thought receiving messages or calls outside of working hours was “no big deal.”
ELMO, a cloud-based HR software platform, revealed that the situation is further exacerbated by work-from-home (WFH).
The survey found that 63% of workers feel they need to be “constantly reachable” when they’re not working in the office.
“In a post-pandemic world, many businesses are working to develop balanced flexible working policies that support flexibility while also encouraging face-to-face engagement with colleagues and peers in the workplace,” said Joseph Lyons, chief executive officer of Elmo Software.
“Despite this, our data reveals that there is a trust gap between managers and their direct reports, especially when working from home.”
How does the right to disconnect work?
Nersessian said the responsibility for real cultural change falls on the shoulders of management and employers.
“What we would like to see is for organizations and leadership teams to really support and embrace this policy and support it from a cultural perspective,” she said.
“And it also allows individuals to understand their own level of limitations.”
She said there was “still a long way to go” before workers felt they could reject demands “without adverse consequences.”
Suhini Wijayasinghe, head of HR solutions at People2People Recruitment, told Yahoo Finance that the change is “generational” and that workers need to be patient while the rules take hold.
“This is a big change and I think a lot of businesses will be panicking about how to implement this change,” she said.
“So I think the discussion is less about whether it’s right or wrong and more about how do we actually engage with employees to get this right?”
Wijayasinghe agreed that both workers and management needed to prepare for a “period of exploration”.
Two human resources experts said these new laws are just the tip of the iceberg and that more protections need to be considered in the workplace.
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