Pay for it: Aussies willing to bypass right to disconnect laws

Aussies are willing to sign away their rights and stay in constant contact with their boss, as long as the employer pays them for the privilege of it.

The new right to disconnect laws are not having the desired impact as most employers ignore them, while employees are afraid to invoke their rights, a new report has found.

A study by job site Indeed shows 4 in 5 employees are regularly contacted outside of hours, including during holidays, and are fearful to enforce their right to disconnect.

This comes despite new amendments to the Fairwork Act saying they can switch off their devices once the work day is finished.

While the new legislation’s intent is to reduce this toll on employees, the majority still worry that not responding to work-related communication after hours may have negative repercussions – such as missed promotions, a damaged professional reputation, or project setbacks.

Employees are willing to work longer hours but want to be paid overtime. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

In better news for workers, 71 per cent of companies with 100-249 employees are willing to pay more for “open slather contact” with labour.

“While in principle the majority of employers agree with the Right to Disconnect, almost half (47 per cent) fear employee productivity will drop if they commit to never contacting them outside of hours,” Indeed said.

“This is likely why 55 per cent of employers say they would pay an employee more in order to be able to make contact.”

Indeed’s workplace psychologist Amanda Gordon told NewsWire most employees were happy to work outside business hours, even if the law said they could disconnect.

But they wanted to feel as though their time was respected.

“Currently people just work the extra hours when demand is there and then get resentful towards employers,” Ms Gordon said.

“So it’s much healthier to say we will try to give you work within the time frame and when we can’t, we will pay for it.”

Ms Gordon said this would create a healthier balance between employers and employees.

“They will ask them to do things that fit within the time frame and I think most employees will be entirely reasonable and not invoice their employer for an extra hour ever so often worked,” she said.

Ms Gordon said it would also help reduce staff turnover as employees would feel more respected by their employers.

“Currently most people just work the extra hours when the demand is there and get resentful of the employer,” Ms Gordon said.

“It is much healthier to say these are the boundaries, these are the expectations of the work you do and we will give you work that you can do in the time frame but when we need you to do something outside of these times we will pay you for it.”

The new right to disconnect laws give Aussies the right to switch off after hours. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The new right to disconnect changes give workers “an enforceable workplace right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from their employer outside of their working hours, unless such refusal is unreasonable”.

The new laws came into effect from August as working from home during the Covid pandemic blurred the lines for when a work day finished.

The Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said at the time it was now up to individuals and workplaces to learn about these changes that would better protect employees’ work-life balance and boundaries.

“We encourage workplace participants to educate themselves on the right to disconnect and take a commonsense approach to applying it within their workplace,” Ms Booth said.

“It will be ideal if employers consult with employees and their unions on the policies that apply in the workplace.”