Smartphones mean we’re always available to our bosses. ‘Right to disconnect’ laws are a necessary fix
Australian workers are set to have the right to disconnect from their workplaces once they clock off for the day.
- Australian workers are set to have the right to disconnect from their workplaces once they clock off for the day.
- This will “empower workers to ignore work calls and emails after hours [from their employers], where those demands are unreasonable”, according to Greens Senator Barbara Pocock who has been driving the change.
Why a right to disconnect is needed
- The shift to remote working during the COVID pandemic caused the boundaries between work and personal life to disintegrate further.
- Parliamentary inquiries have highlighted the negative consequences of working outside scheduled hours for mental and physical health, productivity and turnover.
Availability creep has led to significant unpaid overtime which “takes workers away from a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”. The impacts are especially acute for certain groups of workers. Those on insecure contracts lack the power to resist availability creep. Those with unpaid care responsibilities are likely to experience intensified work/life balance.
“Roster justice”
- The Senate select committee on work and care found such a right can provide workers with “roster justice” by giving more certainty over their working hours.
- Many countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America have already established laws or regulations limiting employers contacting workers outside work hours.
- This approach seems sensible given the long tradition of the commission being asked to rule on what’s “reasonable” in other areas of employment law.
- Unions including those representing teachers and police officers support a right to disconnect.
- They claim employers will be less accommodating of employee requests for flexible work arrangements during normal work hours if contact outside these hours is no longer allowed.
A banana republic?
- According to ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar, a right to disconnect would be “the final step in Australia becoming a banana republic”.
- But it must be remembered that workers effectively had the right to disconnect before the smartphone.
Chris F. Wright has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the International Labour Organization, the Australian and NSW governments, and various business and trade union organisations.