Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Australian employers support the ‘Right to Disconnect’ legislation in Australia, according to a new survey by global job site Indeed. Four in five (81%) also acknowledge they risk losing top talent if they fail to respect employees' work boundaries. With over a third (35%) of employees saying they would consider quitting if their right to disconnect is not respected, employer fears are warranted.

4 in 5 (80%) employees are regularly contacted outside of hours

Despite employers saying they back the new law, even when holidaying employees are pursued by their bosses—with 65% saying they are contacted during personal and annual leave, as well as public holidays. Adding to this, the majority of employees (90%) say they regularly work past their official finish time. When asked how out of hours contact and overtime affects them, 52% of workers said it disrupts their personal life, and 30% said it impacts their mental and/or physical health. 

79% of employees still fearful to disconnect

While the new legislation’s intent is to reduce this toll on employees, the majority (79%) 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. Potentially fueling their hesitancy to police their boundaries is the fact that the definition of  ‘reasonable disconnection’ in the new law is up for interpretation.

What constitutes reasonable contact for an employer?

According to employers, the top three things that still warrant after-hours contact are responding to urgent project deadlines (55%), correcting an error (42%), and surprisingly, for things relating to personal matters (32%).                         

Companies willing to pay more for open slather contact, as fear productivity will drop otherwise

While in principle the majority of employers agree with the Right to Disconnect, almost half (47%) fear employee productivity will drop if they commit to never contacting staff outside of hours. This is likely why 55% of employers say they would pay an employee more in order to be able to make contact. Companies with 100-249 employees are particularly open to this practice, with 71% of those in this group expressing a willingness to pay extra for this luxury.

Importance of clear workplace policies

Employers and employees agree that establishing work protocols will help ensure after-hours contact is minimised. Establishing clear communication guidelines is what most employees (60%) and employers (56%) agreed would help ringfence contact. This was followed by having ‘a clear work hours policy’ at 55% and 54% respectively, and ‘emergency protocols’ at 46% and 41%.

Amanda Gordon, Workplace Psychologist at Indeed said:

“Regular out-of-hours contact can be very disruptive on employee downtime, health, and wellbeing. Having a boss who respects your non-work life has moved from being a nicety to a necessity. While there’s still a lot of grey area surrounding Australia’s new Right to Disconnect legislation, it’s a positive step towards reestablishing work-life-balance. ”

“Leaders and their teams should discuss and agree upon what constitutes reasonable after-hours contact, and if or when it should be compensated. If everyone is on the same page regarding what is deemed ‘urgent’ and warrants contact, the legislation will serve them well.”

 

Indeed is the #1 job site in the world (Comscore, Total Visits, March 2024). With over 580 million job seeker Profiles, people in more than 60 countries across 28 languages come to Indeed to search for jobs, post resumes, and research companies. Over 3.5 million employers use Indeed to find and hire new employees.

Indeed is a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, a global leader in HR technology and business solutions that is simplifying hiring and transforming the world of work.