To comply with the Right to Disconnect legislation, you should start by conducting an audit of current work hours and communication needs within your business. Understand the normal working hours of your employees, what constitutes reasonable out of hours communication and generate a policy document and guidelines around the Right to Disconnect.
Be aware of potential breaches of Work Health and Safety legislation and discrimination legislation that could arise from not respecting employees’ Right to Disconnect.
Examples of what would be considered reasonable out-of-hours communication under the Right to Disconnect legislation could include situations where employees need to change shift times, communicate about work locations, discuss operational notices that can’t wait until the following workday (such as office closures), or respond to urgent matters that require immediate attention. It’s important for employers to consider these factors when determining what constitutes reasonable out-of-hours communication.
Employers can ensure they are complying with the legislation in regard to communication with third parties, such as clients or customers, by proactively communicating with these third parties ahead of the legislation taking effect. This way, they can inform them of what to expect in terms of communication outside of normal working hours. Employers should also consider creating a process for on-call allowances and overtime pay for instances that require employees to be contacted out of hours.
Additionally, it is important for managers to lead by example and model the right behaviours in their own habits around emails and phone calls outside of normal working hours, while outlining communication guidelines to clients and customers.
End2end Business Solutions can help generate policy documents for your business. For assistance with this or to discuss the impact of the Right to Disconnect legislation on your business, contact us today.