Major work change kicks in next week for 2.6 million Aussies: 'Could be complications'

Yahoo

7 hours ago

Small businesses are less than one week away from being affected by the new Right to Disconnect laws. The legislation was brought in last year for large businesses and companies, but August 26 will see roughly 2.6 million smaller enterprises forced to adhere to the change.
Those who employ 15 or fewer staff across full-time, part-time, and casual roles will have to ensure those employees aren't unreasonably contacted outside of work hours. Anne Nalder, CEO of the Small Business Association of Australia (SBAA), told Yahoo Finance she's concerned about how it might impact the industry.
"One of the major issues is that there is little information or publicity from governments about how the new regulations and legislation affect a small business," she said.
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"This is another example of further regulatory imposition on small businesses, who are already facing tough economic conditions."
"There could be complications for those who are casuals, as there are times when someone is sick and cannot report for work, resulting in the employer having to call an employee potentially after hours."How do the Right to Disconnect laws work?
The Right to Disconnect rules were first introduced in August last year.
They're meant to protect employees from being hounded by managers or colleagues with messages, emails or calls outside of regular hours.
This is also extended to work-related contact from clients or members of the public.
While the law doesn't stop these people from contacting you, you have a right not to reply or engage with the communications.
But the main caveat embedded within the legislation is that you only have a right to disconnect from "unreasonable" contact out of hours.
If someone gets sick and can't complete the presentation needed first-thing in the morning, your boss might determine it's reasonable to call you to request that you finish it.
But if you get a bevy of Slack messages asking you to look at a report outside of work hours when it's not due until the end of the week, that might be labelled unreasonable because you can examine it when you're back at work.
The Fair Work Commission outlines what matters must be considered when weighing up the unreasonable versus reasonable contact here.
How have the laws worked for workers in big business?
ELMO HR Software recently surveyed people affected by the Right to Disconnect rules and found only three in 10 felt very comfortable ignoring out-of-hours work messages.
Nearly two in five said they felt uncomfortable in giving those messages the cold shoulder.
More than three in five (62 per cent) admitted they responded to out-of-hours contact simply to "look committed" or "avoid negative judgement".
Job site Indeed also found four out of five Aussie workers were still being contacted outside their normal hours, while 65 per cent said they'd been contacted by their boss on annual or personal leave.
Despite that, it has started to achieve its goal.
The Centre for Future Work revealed that after the laws came into effect, the amount of unpaid overtime had fallen 33 per cent, from 5.4 to 3.6 hours per week.
The decline in unpaid work was highest for workers aged 18-29, who experienced about a 40 per cent reduction in their weekly unpaid workload.
Before the rules came in, Aussies were performing a collective 3.3 billion hours of unpaid work each year. That figure is now down to 2.2 billion hours nationally.
There was even a dismissal case in Queensland where the Right to Disconnect rules were cited for the first time in court.
McCabes Lawyers principal Tim McDonald told Yahoo Finance this represented how far workers were willing to go to protect their rights.
Concerns raised for small businesses
Recruiter Tammie Christofis Ballis is a small business owner and is worried the Right to Disconnect laws could have a much bigger impact on places like hers compared to bigger companies.
"They've got more staff and resources to deal with any issues that pop up," she told Yahoo Finance.
"Sometimes with the smaller businesses, they might say, 'Look, I need you to stay back an hour, otherwise a crucial business thing might not go through'.
"I come from fish and chip shops and when there's one down, the whole place feels it and you're stuffed on a Friday night."
She said this concept extends to plenty of small businesses, and the idea of what's reasonable and unreasonable might look very different compared to a bigger company.
Nalder told Yahoo Finance that business owners will need to plan "well in advance" after the rules kick in and create "contingency plans for any unforeseen emergencies".
She also called for owners to be granted "some leniency" in certain situations in the coming months as workers and bosses adjust to the new law.