In August 2024, the government brought in the ‘right to disconnect’. This legislation gives employees the right to refuse to be contacted by their employer outside of usual working hours.

Previously, the ‘right to disconnect’ rules only applied to businesses with 15 employees or more. But from 26 August 2025, the same rights will apply for employees of small businesses with less than 15 employees – making this a mandatory requirement for all Aussie businesses.

Let’s take a look at what this means for you and your employees.

How will the ‘right to disconnect’ affect your business?

Your employees will have the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact (or attempted contact) outside their usual agreed working hours.

Employees must be reasonable with this refusal (i.e. if refusing to connect affects their ability to carry out their role), but employers must also consider the rights of their team.

Whether a refusal is unreasonable will depend on the circumstances. The following factors must be considered:

  • The reason for the contact
  • The nature of the employee’s role and level of responsibility
  • The employee’s personal circumstances
  • How the contact is made and how disruptive it is to the employee;
  • And any relevant extra pay or compensation they receive for working additional hours or remaining available to work out of hours

Talk to us about getting ready for the ‘right to disconnect’

If you’re habitually emailing, calling or messaging your staff outside of work hours, this is a behaviour that will need to stop. It’s important to have an employee communications strategy and communications channels that will adhere to the ‘right to disconnect’ rules.

Talk to our team about ways to draw up an employee comms process that complies with the new rules, so you’re ready for the August 2025 deadline.

 

If you are looking for a Xero Bookkeeper in Melbourne, Centegrity offers Xero Bookkeeping services as well as Business Mentoring to help grow your business without being Key Person Dependant. No matter what bookkeeping solution you need, we can help.  Contact us or fill in the form below to get started.