28 August 2024
It’s 6 PM on a Friday evening. You’ve shut down your computer, and you’re looking forward to your weekend.
You’re in the middle of an episode of your favourite series, and you hear your phone buzz. You cast a cursory glance at it and see an email from a client about something they want done ASAP. It’s a relatively easy task—you just need your team member who’s in charge of the client to send you a document. Without thinking about it, you fire off an email to the team member, asking them to send you the document. When they don’t respond, you send them a message on Slack to ensure they’ve read your email. After another brief delay, they send you the document, which you forward onto the client.
You glance at the clock and you’re surprised to see it’s already 8 PM. You feel a slight twinge of guilt at making your team member work while they were undoubtedly well into the weekend like you were, and know that it could have waited until the new work week. However, as a small business where you work from home on Fridays, you feel that it’s fine as your employees are all at home anyway and could do this small task in a pinch.
Many business owners and managers are familiar with the above scenario, to the point that it feels normal for them. In the years since the rise of remote work, constant connectivity has become the norm. However, this has also led to burnout and subsequently an increased focus on mental health for workers. According to Mental Health First Aid Australia, 61% of Australian workers reported experiencing burnout, compared to the global average of 48%.
The government’s response to the problem of burnout due to boundaries not being established between work and personal life is the right to disconnect legislation. Australia is the latest country to give workers this right. Now the question is: How should businesses implement the right to disconnect in their workplaces?
The Right to Disconnect is a new legislation that seeks to address the blurring lines between work and personal life. This right aims to promote work-life balance and prevent burnout in workers. While there are some misconceptions around the legislation, the bottom line is that it seeks to promote employee well-being.
The legislation came into effect on 26 August 2024 for non-small businesses (15 employees and up). It won’t come into effect for small businesses until 26 August 2025, but we want to highlight how important it is for small businesses to have best practices in place around the legislation by next year.
These best practices are what Now Actually have put in place ahead of the 26 August 2025 deadline for small businesses and so can you. Ready?
Before enacting a new policy, especially one as significant as the right to disconnect, it’s important to ensure that it’s communicated to the business as a whole. It’s a two-pronged approach: managers should be aware of what the legislation is and what they can expect from it, and employees should know what their rights under the legislation are.
Managers and employees should be educated on the importance of work-life balance and how the right to disconnect applies to them. Employers and managers need to firstlead by example. They can do this by making sure not to require team members to monitor, read, or respond to work communications outside of normal working hours.
On the employees’ side, they should familiarise themselves with the right to disconnect and what it means for them. Ensure they’re aware of what constitutes reasonable and unreasonable refusal when it comes to reading or responding to work-related communications. Fair Work has examples of how to handle reasonable and unreasonable out of hours contact.
Clients or any other third parties (like suppliers and staff from other businesses that employees might have lines of communication with) should be informed about the right to disconnect policy as well. These third parties could be impacted by the policy, and it’s crucial to inform them how this impacts communication with employees.
The right to disconnect legislation also lets workers refuse contact from third parties. The nature of the business might mean that third parties are used to having messages or emails being responded to during non-working hours. On that note, ‘working hours’ or ‘business hours’ can vary between businesses. Be clear about what working hours are for your business, and let your clients know the details. Communicate this detail, along with any other important ones that the right to disconnect will impact with third parties, whether it’s via email, a newsletter, or even as an addendum to email signatures.
Not sure what this could look like? Here’s an example of an email signature that includes some of the information you need to communicate:
Examples of email signatures that incorporate the right to disconnect policy’s expectations are below:
Example #1: Pay attention to the smaller text at the bottom of this email signature. It clearly explains working hours, sets communication expectations and offers another point of contact for urgent matters.
Example #2: As with the previous example, the disclaimer at the bottom of the email clearly indicates the working hours for this person. As it’s an email signature going out to employees or collaborators, it serves reminds individuals that there’s no obligation to respond to communications sent outside of the stated working hours.
Please note that these are just examples, and should not be used as templates by businesses. Disclaimers such as these will vary based on several factors like the nature of the business and an employee’s working hours.
As with all workplace policies, a policy about the right to disconnect legislation should be clear and understandable to all employees.
What to consider or include when creating a right to disconnect policy:
As with many workplace policies, a right to disconnect policy varies from business to business. Factors such as company size, industry, culture, and specific operational needs should be taken into account when creating the policy. Creating a right to disconnect is essentially tailoring a policy to fit the unique dynamics of each business. It needs to be one where the needs of the business are balanced with the kind of employee well-being that the right to disconnect legislation seeks to promote.
Having a right to disconnect policy doesn’t only make a business compliant with the law, but also shows a company’s commitment to its employees’ well-being.
The right to disconnect legislation is a response to how, in the past years, the world of work has come with the expectation to be constantly connected 24/7. Having a policy or even guidelines in place before the 2025 implementation can help you figure out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to the right to disconnect in your particular business.
Do you have the resources implement our best practice list? Whether it’s communicating the changes with your team, or creating a tailor-made Right to Disconnect policy for your business, we can help.
