‘Would quit’: Boss act Aussies won’t put up with

How we work in Australia is changing and there’s one act that most Aussies aren’t prepared to put up with in 2024.

Workers have just been given the right to ignore their bosses outside of working hours, but do Australians think that is fair?

From August 26, workers can refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact from an employer or a third party.

You can officially leave your boss on read. Of course, this is all within reason, and several factors need to be considered before ignoring your boss.

These include the reason for the contact, how the contact is made and whether the worker is being compensated or paid extra to be available to be contacted.

According to the not-so-mean streets of Sydney’s affluent Bondi, most people are keen to switch off from work within reason.

She said she wouldn’t mind if it was very important. Picture: News.com.au

She had to block a former boss who wouldn’t take the hint. Picture: News.com.au

One woman stopped her jog to explain that she would only tolerate a boss pinging her outside of work hours if it was absolutely necessary.

“I wouldn’t mind if it was an emergency or something really important but not for silly things,” she told news.com.au.

The woman explained that if your boss tries to contact you outside of working hours over a non-pressing matter, that falls into “weird” territory, and most conversations should remain within your working hours.

Another jogger took a beat and even turned off her wireless headphones to explain that contacting your employee outside of work hours is just not on … and she’s not afraid to press the block button on a former boss.

“Absolutely not. Works for work and leave that at the door,” she said.

“I left a job, and she was trying to get me back, and I ended up blocking her because she kept contacting me. I just don’t think it is acceptable,” she explained.

One young guy said he straight up believes your boss shouldn’t be contacting you outside of working hours.

He said a previous employer did contact him outside of work hours. Picture: News.com.au

He doesn’t want his TikTok time ruined by a work call. Picture: Supplied

He explained that he’d had a boss do it to him in the past, but it was a blurred-line situation because it was a family member.

These days, though, he said he wouldn’t be sticking around if he had a boss hounding him during his personal time.

“I would quit,” he admitted

One very practical Gen Zer said that he thinks an employer can get you on the blower outside of work hours but within reason.

He has boundaries though.

“If my boss is calling me at 9 o’clock and I’m having bedtime rotting hours and TikTok time. I don’t think that should be happening,” he said.

He went on to explain that he’d had employers contact him outside of hours on messaging platforms in the past.

“The WhatsApp groups all of that sort of thing, it is like, okay I get it, we’ve got these communication channels amazing, but there has to be some hard and fast limits, so that everyone can be off the clock, including the bosses.”

Interestingly, though, he isn’t sure if he’d quit over a boss harassing him outside of work hours.

“It is a hard one because we all need money,” he pointed out.

The Gen Zer then conceded that if nothing changed after raising the issue, that’d probably be enough for him to resign.

“Yeah, I probably would quit,” he said.

She previously had a job where she didn’t get to switch off. Picture: Supplied

This Tradie reckons within reason it is fine. Picture: News.com.au

Two mates out for a stroll also shared their thoughts on the right to disconnect. While one explained she was French and that this had been the norm over there for a while now, the other said she’d previously worked in a job where she was constantly contacted outside of hours.

“In my previous job, I was bothered at all sorts of hours and having to send Excel reports on Saturday mornings,” she said.

Would it make her quit?

“It should. I didn’t,” she said.

Meanwhile, a tradie shared that he thinks contacting employees outside of working hours is just “circumstantial” and, in the tradie industry, not something that can be avoided.

“We are plumbers; we are always on call, and it depends on the industry you’re in and who your boss is,” he said.

Even when asked if he’d be bothered if his boss contacted him about something unimportant, he said, “Not really.”

Originally published as ‘Would quit’: Boss act Aussies won’t put up with