Do we need a law to ignore out of hours emails?

Is the new Australian ‘right to disconnect’ law progress?

Photo by Agniezka Boeske on Unsplash

This week Australia has passed a bill that if it becomes law, will give workers the right to ignore emails and phone calls out of work hours and not be ‘punished’ for it. Australians work an average of six weeks unpaid overtime each year, a time that equates to A$92bn (£47bn) in unpaid wages across the economy. This law could potentially give people back 219 weeks of their lives, but is it infantilising employees and giving employers a sense of control they never really should have had on the first place?

It was the mid 2000’s when I worked in media in Sydney, it was still early days in digital adoption. I still received booking confirmations from the TV stations via fax and work phones and laptops were still a long way off. But yet even then I still felt an invisible tether to my employer. I was early in my career and eager to move up the ladder, an ambition that had me in the office before 8am and spreading in a taxi home long past 9pm. You can read a little about how I tried in vain to fight this here.

Now fast forward 20 years and the technological advancement that was supposed to make our lives easier, give us more free time has done just the opposite. Tony Burke, the Australian minister for employment and workplace relations, said “The world is connected and that has created a problem” and he’s right, the connectivity has made everyone available 24/7.

But Australia isn’t the first country to bring in such a law, France first introduced the "right to disconnect" law in 2017 which forced companies with over 50 employees to negotiate with staff about when they can ignore emails and phone calls. I find it baffling that the law only forces companies to negotiate with staff as to whether or not they can ignore emails and call in their own time. How has it become a given that we are available to work for free?

It’s no surprise it’s not been welcomed by everyone. There has been some backlash, particularly from boomers (quite often men) who are more likely to be in the most senior roles and have the most to lose when people start refusing unpaid overtime. Why would they want a law that allows people to only work the hours they are paid for? They also climbed the ladder in their careers in a time where there was nothing to disconnect from. Once they left the office that connection between boss and employee was broken.

But do we really need a law when your boss can only contact you out of hours if you let them? The beauty of work devices is that you can switch them off, you can create boundaries but it’s not that easy for everyone.

“Your boss can only annoy you after hours if you let them”

I personally don’t entertain contact from work outside of hours. I have the benefit hindsight, a role that is less senior than I once was and an employer who respects boundaries around the working day. But what if you don’t have these things? Would this law help you regain control over your work/life balance? Or is this something we can only do ourselves?

Here are some of the things I’ve learnt along the way as I went from 13 hour days to a strict 7.5 hours:

• I spent time thinking about why I was allowing the contact and was it because I was caught up in the hustle to the top.

• I checked my ego and started doing things based on my values rather than needing to feel a sense of worth through a job title or needing to be right.

• After experiencing burnout I realised I didn’t need to be productive all the time. There is more to life than getting shit done.

• I started to prioritise rest rather than feeling guilty for it.

• I prioritised my hobbies too, those were the things I did after work rather than working.

• I have almost mastered The Power of saying no without fear rather than going along with things just because everyone else is.

• I have tried to get a grip on my FOMO and I don’t allow work chats on my personal phone anymore. I figure if something interesting happens I’ll hear about it anyway.

I’m curious to know what you think. Is this progress? Or should we not even need a law to choose how we spend our own ‘free’ time?

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