Greens Looking to Ensure People Can Disconnect From Work

This photo, taken on June 21, 2012, shows a person using a mobile phone touch screen keypad to write a text message in Singapore. Roslin Rahman/AFP/GettyImages; effects added by Epoch Times

Working outside of office hours is the scourge of many Australians, who struggle with demanding jobs and creating a work-life balance.

But it may soon become a thing of the past after the Greens introduced a private members bill to parliament that seeks to amend the Fair Work act to legislate the right for workers to not answer emails, phone calls or other messages after contracted work hours.

The Bill comes in response to one of the recommendations of the Senate Work and Care Inquiry, which found that due to the proliferation of smartphones and advances in technology, there had been an “availability creep” into Australians’ personal time.

“Workers are often expected to be on call 24/7 to answer emails, take calls and be available to their employers at a moment’s notice,” Bandt said when introducing the bill on March 20.

“Workers should have the right to switch off when they clock off,” Greens Leader Adam Bandt said. “Technology has seen work creep into personal time. If you’re not getting paid for it, you should be able to ignore the work texts and emails that arrive after hours.”

Party leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt addresses the media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 6, 2023. Photo by Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Bandt noted that switching off from work is “vital for your health and work-life balance.”

“This bill will give people the right to log off when they clock off and to say unless you’re getting paid for it, your time is your own, and your employer does not have the right to contact you by text, email or phone when you’re enjoying your leisure,” he said.

Fair Work Act Not Fit For 21st Century

Chair of the Senate Work and Care Inquiry, Greens Senator Barbara Pocock, said that the bill would bring the Fair Work Act into the 21st century.

“Most of our working arrangements were put in place when households typically consisted of a male breadwinner with a female working to maintain a home and provide care for the family,” she said.

“Those arrangements are clearly out of date and we need to recognise that households are now run with at least two working adults who are increasingly sharing household and caring duties in addition to their working lives.”

She said that during the inquiry, they had heard evidence from both workers and employers across the country supporting the need to include a right to disconnect in the Fair Work Act.

“Our work and care ‘system’ is no longer fit for purpose, and widespread hours of unpaid overtime are just part of the problem,” she said.

“Availability creep, where workers feel they have to be available to answer emails all the time, is harming their physical and mental health.

“Poor sleep, stress, burnout, degraded relationships and distracted carers are some of the consequences of workers feeling they should be available at all hours.”

Inquiry Found 2.65 Million Australians Struggling to Provide Care and Work

According to the report, 2.65 million Australians, with the majority being women, are combining work with childcare or unpaid care given to a person with a disability, long-term illness or old age.

“Australia is mired in a work and care crisis which demands bold reform to fix an economic, gender equity and workforce crisis,” Committee Chair and Greens Senator Barbara Pocock said.

Many women are juggling work and unpaid care. Volodymyr Baleha/Shutterstock

“We must recognise—and measure—the essential value of unpaid care to our economy and our wellbeing,” Senator Pocock said. “It’s worth at least half the value of GDP. The economy can’t exist without care, without reproduction of the workers of the future.”

The report also recommends that the federal government examine a case for a shorter working week, and paying out 52 weeks of Paid Parental Leave among others.

“It’s time to give new parents more paid leave when a baby arrives, and to recognise that childcare is an essential part of economic infrastructure, like the roads we use to get to work. Quality, universal care narrows inequality. At present it is too expensive and hard to find in too many places. It should be free,” Senator Pocock said.

“We have been moving in the wrong direction—with fraying job security and increasingly unpredictable working time for too many. It’s time for action in the opposite direction.”