Right to Disconnect ‘more symbolic than substantive’

The Right to Disconnect legislation has accrued widespread attention from various industries, with some employers worried about the restrictions it may cause.

The 2024 Bargaining Trends Survey released today (19 November) by law firm Ashurst has given a glimpse into the impacts that legislative reforms such as the Right to Disconnect are having on both employers and employees.

Back on 26 August 2024, the Right to Disconnect, a part of the Closing Loopholes reforms, came into effect. This addressed the growing trend of workers in various industries being contacted or being required to work outside of their scheduled hours.

This was too much of the displeasure of employers; however, the report shows that it may not be proving to be the roadblock they initially expected.

According to the report, the reform has so far proven to be more symbolic than substantive, as almost half of the respondents (46.5 per cent) indicated that they do not think the changes will have any effect.

The report explained, however, that employees who are currently under enterprise agreements may already have compensatory mechanisms for after-hours work or an embedded right to disconnect; therefore, it rarely impacts their working arrangements.

One respondent said that “[as] a global business, there are regular engagements across time zones” but noted that they already encourage proactive management through flexibility and tailored working arrangements.

The data in the report displayed the extent to which the Right to Disconnect is perceived to impact their organisation as follows:

• No effect: 47 per cent
• Somewhat of an effect: 37 per cent
• Other: 14 per cent
• Positive effect: 2 per cent

Despite this, 65.1 per cent of organisations address the Right to Disconnect predominantly through training, with 27.9 per cent also updating their work practices.

The report stated that these measures are most likely to be an effective way to deal with the new provisions, with the risks being managed by upskilling managers to understand how and in what circumstances outside-of-hours contact might be reasonable.

At the same time, the organisations implementing these measures are also the same ones who believe the reform will have “no effect”. Perhaps a sign of covering all their bases so that they don’t face any contraventions from the provisions.

On top of this, 39.5 per cent reported changing the terms of employees’ contractual arrangements to clarify their expectations, which coincides with the need to avoid contraventions, ensuring that their employees’ contracts include the relevant provisions and that they are sufficiently compensated for working after-hours.

In conclusion, the report said: “It will be important to continue tracking how this legislation finds its place in the Australian context and what level of prescription finds its way into enterprise agreements, especially in comparison to the enforcement standards in France, Ireland, Germany and Canada.”

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.