The right to disconnect: a step forward or back?

In February 2024, Australia updated the Fair Work Act to include a Right to Disconnect to protect workers from exploitation. This legal provision, which gives employees the right to refuse unreasonable contact outside of working hours has already been adopted in countries like France, Belgium, and Italy.

With its focus on regulating work hours fuelled by hyperconnectivity, the right to disconnect has also been discussed as a potential solution to the pervasive issue of work-related mental health problems. While it aims to establish clear boundaries between work and personal life, it falls short of addressing one of the key issues driving workplace mental health problems: unsustainable workloads. Without a meaningful focus on ensuring realistic and sustainable workloads, the right to disconnect risks becoming just another way to shift the burden onto workers, rather than tackling systemic problems within organisations.

Getting sucked into a simple solution

The appeal of the right to disconnect lies in its simplicity. By legislating specific hours when employees are not expected to respond to emails or calls, it creates a buffer that protects personal time. However, this solution is superficial. It assumes the mere ability to unplug after hours will alleviate the stress and burnout that stem from excessive workloads. In reality, the pressure and expectations of modern work culture often bleed into personal time, making it difficult for employees to truly disconnect.

Facing up to the real issue: Unsustainable and unrealistic workloads

The crux of the problem lies in the unrealistic workloads that many employees still face. In an era where productivity is often measured by hours worked rather than output quality, workers can be routinely pushed beyond their limits. This can lead to chronic stress, burnout and work-related mental health issues. The right to disconnect does little to change the fact that employees may still face unmanageable tasks and deadlines during their working hours. And when work needs to be done, it can be impossible for many of us to just walk away.

To genuinely address work-related mental health problems, organisations must focus on designing sustainable jobs which includes ensuring reasonable and attainable workloads. This involves realistic goal-setting, adequate staffing, and workplace cultures that value quality outcomes over quantity. Managers should be trained to support effective prioritisation of work, allocate work fairly and actively problem-solve when things aren’t working well. They must also be equipped to recognise signs of burnout and be empowered to make adjustments that prioritise employee well-being alongside organisational performance. By tackling the root causes of workplace mental health problems, organisations can create healthier, more productive work environments.

Putting the blame in the wrong place?

Implementing the right to disconnect without addressing workload (and other work) issues can inadvertently blame workers for feeling stressed or burnt-out. It can suggest that employees should simply be better at managing their boundaries, ignoring the systemic issues that drive them to work excessive hours in the first place. This perspective overlooks the power dynamics at play in many workplaces, where employees may feel pressured to be constantly available to prove their commitment and avoid repercussions.

The right to disconnect also doesn’t account for the variability in different professions. For instance, in sectors like health care or emergency services, strict boundaries on work hours may not be feasible. In these cases, a focus on workload management and adequate staffing becomes even more crucial.

Moving forward

While the right to disconnect is a step in the right direction, it needs to be part of a broader strategy to improve workplace wellbeing. Policymakers and business leaders must recognise that protecting employees’ mental health requires more than just limiting after-hours communications. It requires a comprehensive approach that includes realistic workload expectations, supportive management practices, and an organisational culture that genuinely values employee well-being.

Put simply, the right to disconnect – on its own – is not enough. To create truly healthy workplaces, we must focus on systemic changes that promote psychologically healthy workplaces, including a focus on sustainable workloads, ensuring that employees can thrive regardless of whether or not they’re logged on.