Why Smart Leaders Are Backing the Right to Disconnect?
From August 2024, Australia’s Right to Disconnect legislation became law for most employers, with small employers coming into effect in August 2025. This reform gives employees the legal right to refuse unreasonable work-related contact outside of hours. You can find out more here.
First, the bad news! Then I’ll move onto the opportunity!
The first legal test of the law is afoot and the claimant is seeking $780,000. (Imagine what you could spend on to improve your business, not to mention the legal costs if you lose)! The upshot is:
A Queensland teacher is seeking compensation because of her dismissal by her former employer for not responding to work messages during school holidays. The AFR (exclusive report) states “the teacher alleged she was targeted because she had made complaints about child safety at the school and against a person charged with reviewing the school and its staff”. Following this, she took a stress leave. The right to disconnect is just one part of a broader adverse action claim (as a result of complaints she had made and her exercising a variety of workplace rights. It is alleged the teach failed to respond to her employer’s allegations within the specified timeframe and the employer argued she was not on school holidays at the time. The question will be was she outside of work hours and thus entitled to rely on the law? She is seeking $730,000 in lost future earnings and an additional $50,000 for emotional distress.
Regardless of whether she wins the case, the courts are likely to provide more guidance on how they will assess the breach of this law. Small employers have just 10 weeks left to proactively manage any change required in their business.
The question to ask yourself IS NOT just “How do we comply?” but “How do we lead?”
What if the secret to higher performance, productivity, and engagement wasn’t more hustle but more rest?
This isn’t just a compliance issue, but it’s a strategic inflection point. While some see it as red tape, visionary leaders see it for what it really is: a strategic lever for performance, wellbeing, and talent retention. Beyond the legalities, it invites leaders to reimagine to build trust, foster wellbeing, and improve performance. This shouldn’t need to be an issue if you are managing your business well.
This isn’t about banning emails/calls. This legislation is a call to lead differently. To move from transactional “availability” to relational accountability. To create cultures where boundaries are respected and people thrive; a culture of trust, clarity, and care. It’s about high-quality leadership and just plain, effective business
management! Sometimes we all get complacent, so this is a good time to
wake up and take stock of your business operations.
💡 Why This Law Is Good for Business
- Productivity and Performance improves when people aren’t always “on”. Everyone needs to switch off, including you!
- Burnout and absenteeism goes down when boundaries are respected.
- Retention improves when people feel trusted and valued.
- Your brand shines in a market where culture is currency.
- Attraction high quality prospective candidates seek businesses with great values and live them!
- Legal Risk as you will see below the cost may be hefty if you fail to act! But acting with leadership lowers your legal and reputation risk and increases your brand!
🧭 The Leadership Opportunity
This Is a Leadership Moment. The right to disconnect isn’t about banning emails/calls. It’s about redefining leadership and culture. It is about creating workplaces where people are seen, heard, and respected. Where performance and wellbeing are not in tension, but in harmony. And that’s the kind of leadership that attracts great people, keeps them, and brings out their best.
Because in a world where talent is mobile, a great culture is your competitive edge.
This is a wonderful opportunity to review your business processes and effectiveness. It is especially critical to plan and prioritise. In 99% of all issues I encounter when I consult with Executive teams starts with a that lack of strategy, prioritisation and co-ordination, taking a whole of business systems lens.
I advocate that all leaders develop themselves to the Unitive Leadership level, that is the highest Leadership competency level. These leaders are visionaries, inclusive and consider the whole eco-system within and without the business. The business is seen as a living system that is interconnected, values-driven, and person-centred at its core. Transformational and Servant leadership form part of unitive leadership and inspires people to align with a shared vision and strategy, not through control, but through purpose, empathy, and empowerment. It’s about inclusivity, respect, trust and psychological safety.
You can take action now to ensure compliance, but also a competitive advantage.
Our Top 5 Key Tips
1. Audit communication habits
If your team’s default is “always available,” it’s time to reset and you need to challenge it. Burning out employees has a multitude of issues and knock-on effects.
2. Train leaders in relational leadership and effective goal setting – Equip leaders to manage performance and productivity with outcomes, not inputs, and lead with empathy, not urgency. Leaders need to be organised, plan out priorities and initiatives, and actually proactively manage expectations, workloads and deadlines.
3. Update policies and contracts –Make boundaries explicit—and model them from the top. Model healthy boundaries. Leaders set the tone—your behaviour becomes the culture. Embed the right to disconnect in your employment frameworks. Be explicit about expectations, especially if there are true emergency situations that arise after hours. Consider flexible working hours and be clear about when people are working and not working.
4. Make provisions for customer-facing employees – We all know that sometimes sh*t goes down after hours. For some of us that is the job. But if you have clients who just believe you and your business are at their beck and call at any time, then you need to proactively manage a new way of being, starting with client expectations! Create escalation protocols that define what’s urgent, who decides, and how it’s communicated. In the situation where an employee may be required to respond to a true emergency after work, agree upfront, what the expectation is and what the give and take equation is. Act with good intentions of wellbeing and as always be reasonable!
5. Support hybrid and remote teams – Use tech to protect time, not invade it. Managing remote and hybrid high performing, highly engaged teams is an art form and requires a substantially higher level of leadership competence. Here are some things to consider, especially if globally working:
- Agree on core collaboration hours – especially across time zones.
- Use tech intentionally – Delay sending emails (use schedule), set “do not disturb” hours, and respect status indicators.
- Normalise logging off – Celebrate disconnection as a sign of trust, not disengagement.
- Focus on outcomes – Empower autonomy and measure what matters.
