Do New Zealand workers need protections empowering them to ignore their bosses after work hours? Photo / 123rf
A newly passed law in Australia that empowers workers to ‘disconnect’ from work after hours opens up an important conversation but could lack effectiveness if ever introduced in New Zealand, says an expert.
“I’m not sure legislating is the answer, but to me it at least signals that this is something serious,” said Jarrod Haar, a professor of management at Massey University.
“Legislation doesn’t necessarily lead to a change in behaviour, so I’m a little bit dubious how much it will really change.”
He said the justification for such a law was there, however.
“There are lots of people working lots of long hours, after hours, doing work, possibly not of their own desire,” Haar said.
“If we could legislate for [it] and then bosses and organisations wouldn’t bother workers, I would think that’s a good thing.
“I think the conversation is a good one.
“It is a timely reminder for employers that you’re paying someone for 9-5, they are not yours to annoy after hours,” he said.
Haar said data he had gathered showed in December about 20 per cent of the New Zealand workforce was doing quite a lot of after-hours work.
“It’s up from like 9 per cent in June,” he said.
“That’s a real worry.”
Haar said it’s more likely a ‘right to disconnect’ law would give a voice to those on weaker employment contracts who don’t feel like they can say something.
“It might be that it’s less an organisation and more the odd manager,” Haar said.
“That focus on legislation is possibly well-needed for some, but I don’t know if it will change the behaviour of the bad offenders.”
In Australia, the law bans unreasonable contact from employers and allows workers to complain to the Fair Work Commission if they’re hassled, which could result in a fine.
The change will also prevent employees from being punished for refusing to take unreasonable work calls or answer emails in their unpaid personal time.
There are carve-outs, among those being on-call employees and managers being excluded from the rules; and for bosses calling employees about changes to their rostered shifts.
Haar said in speaking with European colleagues where similar refusal laws exist in France and Portugal, his understanding from them is that they are not overly effective.
Research last year from Deloitte on New Zealand workers revealed 20 per cent of Gen Z respondents and 25 per cent of millennials said they found themselves responding to work messages outside normal working hours.
The 12th annual Deloitte Gen Z and Millennial Survey also found Kiwi workers were feeling greater levels of burnout in the workplace than they did the previous year.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said the digitisation of many workplaces means there are fewer barriers between home and work life today.
“Employees have a right to expect they will not be disturbed after clocking off, but the practicality of many workplaces means legislating zero contact is impractical,” Hope said.
“For example, emergency callouts, media inquiries after hours and more would all require carve-outs.
“Since the Covid-19 lockdowns, flexible working has seen office hours become more malleable and some workplaces adopted a ‘quid-pro-quo’ approach to the hours staff keep. Instead of one-size-fits-all legislation, businesses would be better suited to approach this as a workplace culture issue - setting reasonable boundaries of conduct both during and outside of office hours.”
Nathan Santesso, Worker Advocate at The Worker’s Advocate, said for any potential ‘right to disconnect’ law to work, it depended on the wording of the legislation, the remedies, and the ease of enforcement.
“There are a lot of well-intentioned laws that never see the light of day because there are outs like ‘unless the parties agree’, or vague remedies, or other obstacles to enforcement,” he said.
“An example of this is the 40-hour, 5-day work week legislation which absolutely no one knows about and is practically useless. It’s been in place since 2000 but I’m quite confident that no one has ever found it to be useful.”
Callum Francis, national organiser for finance at First Union, said: “New Zealand could certainly benefit from having a clearer directive against unpaid labour and the unreasonable expectations placed on many workers that mean after-hours calls and communication with bosses become the norm in some industries.
“Employers should proactively discourage unpaid labour after hours and seriously reevaluate their executive operations if they know that staff are being forced to continue busywork into evenings and nights - it is entirely preventable.
“People need time to recharge their batteries, spend time with friends and family and enjoy the already small amount of leisure time that a busy 40-hour working week provides.”
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports.