Australia’s new “right to disconnect” has made a big splash in the media this month. Employers have expressed concern; politicians have pledged to reverse it once in power while Unions have welcomed it as an essential measure. Observers could be forgiven for thinking that Australia was blazing a progressive trail, but in reality, we are late entrants to the global disconnect party as governments and workers across the world wrestle with the demands of the 24/7 digital age.

Our map, shows that at any point of time in a week day, somewhere in the world, workers are enjoying a right to disconnect. Much of the Americas, many EU countries and even outliers such as Kenya and Kazakhstan have taken measures over the last 10 years to give their workers the right to switch off after hours. Notable party poopers are the world’s first and second largest economies, the USA and China, although a “freedom to switch off” bill is currently before the legislative assembly of the state of California and many US companies have their own policies that apply to their employees.

However, the experience of the other countries with a ‘Right to Disconnect’ in place indicates that in Australia our new ‘right’ may not amount to very much, unless employers actively back the concept by putting in place measures to ensure their employees, not only understand it, but are comfortable exercising it.

Right versus reality

The global right to disconnect push reflects a growing consensus among policy makers that in an age of globalisation, when every worker has a well-equipped office in their smart phone, being able to ‘clock out’ has become a luxury. And there is evidence that not being able to do so has adverse consequences on workers’ health, wellbeing and (most importantly for many) productivity.

For example, in Ireland, a 2022 study by University College Dublin found that, although workers’ productivity increased when working from home, their stress levels also rose, and they found it more challenging to disconnect from work. The impact on women’s health was particularly stark with 43% of respondents reporting a deterioration in their mental health and well-being, compared with a third of men. More women than men reported that their physical health had deteriorated. (Geary and Belizon, 2022)

The research report Right to Disconnect: Implementation and impact at company level was published by Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in late 2023. The report looks at the implementation of the right to disconnect across nine EU countries which had introduced some measures to support a right to disconnect for their workers over the last decade.

Around 45% of respondents indicated that being contacted out of hours had negative implications for their work–life balance and health and well-being. A larger share of women indicated such issues (48% compared with 42% of men). The most negatively affected group was 25 to 39-year-olds and the most commonly reported health issue was headaches (41% of respondents), followed by backache (35%), overall fatigue (34%) and anxiety/stress (33%). The survey found that all these health issues were reported by a smaller share of workers in companies where a right to disconnect policy was present.

Implementation of right

These findings provide the first quantitative evidence of positive associations between company policies on the right to disconnect and work–life balance, health and well-being, and overall job satisfaction. Importantly, the report concluded that the presence of the ‘right’ alone was clearly insufficient and that laws and policies must be combined with awareness raising, effective implementation measures, ongoing joint monitoring and review by management and employee representatives, as well as measures to tackle the causes of over-connection.

The following actions were amount those implemented by employers to ensure the implementation of a right to disconnect:

• raising awareness of the right itself;
• providing training for managers on both the risk of constant connection and the benefits of disconnecting from work;
• establishing an email/communication corridor outside which workers are not required to answer messages; and
• providing training for employees on the risks of constant connection and the benefits of disconnecting from work.

These are the types of measures that should be implemented by employers in Australia who want to ensure that the right becomes a reality in their workplace. The findings show that making genuine efforts to implement the right to disconnect can result in a healthier and happier workforce, which is a reality that both employers and employees in Australia should celebrate together.

‘Right to Disconnect’ laws across international jurisdictions

Legal Measures

Policy measures

Current proposals