Right to Disconnect

To date, legislation has touched on related issues such as reasonable additional hours under the National Employment Standards (NES) and under the Workplace Health and Safety legislation whereby employers have a duty to ensure the health and safety of the workplace including physical and psychological safety.

However, there has been a need to change the Act as employees and employers have never understood what ‘reasonable additional hours’ actually means. 

What does the right to disconnect mean?

The Fair Work Ombudsman statement says, “Employees will have the right to refuse contact outside their working hours unless that refusal is unreasonable”, means an employee can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer or a third party.

The right also covers attempted contact outside of an employee’s working hours.

Several factors must be considered when determining whether an employee’s refusal is unreasonable. This includes:

• the reason for the contact
• whether the employee is compensated or paid extra for:
  • being available to be contacted to perform work within a specific period, or
  • working additional hours outside their ordinary hours of work
• the nature of the employee’s role and level of responsibility
• the employee’s personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities.

Source: Right to disconnect - Fair Work Ombudsman

The benefits
There should be benefits in the following areas:

• Improved mental health: constant connectivity can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout. The Right to Disconnect allows employees to recharge, leading to improved mental health.
• Increased productivity: employees who have time to rest are more likely to be productive and engaged during their working hours.
• Enhanced job satisfaction: respecting personal time can lead to higher job satisfaction and lower turnover rates.
• Clear boundaries: establishing clear boundaries between work and personal life can help maintain a healthy work-life balance.

The Right to Disconnect is an important step towards ensuring employees can maintain a healthy work-life balance in an increasingly connected world. The ultimate benefit will be a more engaged, productive and satisfied workforce.

Recommended Actions

• Continue discussions between employers and employees regarding availability and non-availability to ensure there is a balance between the requirements of the practice and employee’s flexibility. The right is to ensure employees are aware of when they can switch off and know what they are able to do when they are not working or being paid.
• Review your position descriptions as different roles may have varying requirements for after-hours communication, and we must determine what is reasonable or unreasonable for each position and how to manage out of hours communication.  
• Monitor working hours and overtime, especially for roles that enable an employee to work from home or another location other than the practice.
• Use workplace data such as leave reports, turnover reports, feedback from exit interviews, performance appraisals and absenteeism rates up to when the legislation comes into effect to provide the practice with a clear picture of the impact of the legislation in conjunction with employee’s well-being and practice productivity.

The Workplace Relations Team sent an email to Toolkit subscribers on Friday 23 August which included information about the Right to Disconnect legislation. For more information, please call on 07 3872 2264 or email us at workplacerelations@amaq.com.au