Government must legislate to protect workers from after-hours calls and emails, says the ASU

The results of a survey show one in five people is working an extra eight hours unpaid each fortnight as work creeps into personal time.

The federal government has been urged to legislate to give workers the right to “disconnect” from work and ignore calls and emails from their bosses once they clock off.

The call comes from the Australian Services Union, which this week will launch a campaign to embed the right in the Fair Work Act, backed by a survey showing 20 per cent of workers do an extra eight hours of unpaid work each fortnight.

ASU assistant national secretary Emeline Gaske said the right to disconnect was becoming a reality across the world, where it had been embraced in countries such as France, Spain, Canada, Argentina, and Ireland.

“It’s time for Australia to act and legislate to protect workers from work intruding into their homes and eroding their quality of life,” she said.

“Workers are struggling under the weight of unrealistic workloads and the increasing expectation they will work at home, without being paid, in their own free time.

“While the Covid-19 pandemic introduced a new model of work for many organisations, with a large number of employees now having the option of flexible and remote work, this shouldn’t also mean the creep of work into home life.”

An ASU survey of clerical and administrative workers across several industries found one in five were putting in an extra eight hours – a full day’s work – each fortnight.

Two thirds of the respondents were women and they reported that “working outside agreed hours was dramatically impacting their family lives and caring responsibilities and leading to stress and anxiety, including fears that careers would be negatively impacted if they did not perform work-related tasks outside of work hours”.

As part of its campaign, the union wants an end to unpaid overtime, better protection for workers from negative consequences for refusing contact outside of working hours, and safeguards for people from being pressured to be constantly connected or available to their employers.

The survey found:

70 per cent of respondents regularly perform work outside agreed working hours, and

one in three are expected to perform work outside scheduled work hours. Of those who regularly work outside agreed hours, 28 per cent work three to five hours more per fortnight; 15 per cent work between five and eight hours more per fortnight, and 19 per cent work in excess of eight hours;

64 per cent of workers have been contacted in relation to work while on a form of leave such as sick leave, carer’s leave, annual leave or long service leave;

67 per cent of workers struggle to complete their workload within their normal working hours;

Half of all workers feel pressured to take calls and/or monitor emails outside of work hours;

57 per cent of workers find it difficult to say no to performing work outside of normal working hours and feel anxious if they do not answer calls and/or monitor emails outside of work hours;

Half of all workers feel their careers will be negatively affected if they do not take calls and/or monitor emails outside of work hours. Almost 25 per cent fear they will be disciplined if they do not answer calls and/or monitor emails outside of work hours;

72 per cent of workers who work outside agreed hours have experienced poor mental health (stress and anxiety) as a consequence. Other negative consequences experienced due to working outside normal work hours include disrupted sleep (63 per cent), missed or disrupted social interactions (62 per cent), interference with personal life/relationships (56 per cent), missed or disrupted ability to go to the gym/personal fitness (56 per cent); and missed or disrupted family meals (44 per cent).

Ms Gaske said the findings highlighted that many workers did not enjoy a healthy balance between work and their personal lives.

“These alarming survey results confirm that unpaid overtime, contact after hours and understaffing are systemic issues for many Australian workers, underscoring the need for legislation protecting the right to disconnect,” she said.

“This is impacting workers in a variety of ways, with some respondents reporting missed social engagements or a lack of time to cook a healthy meal and others finding they don’t have time to help their children with homework.”

Originally published as Government must legislate to protect workers from after-hours calls and emails, says the ASU