By Tina Zawila
As of 26 August 2025, Australia’s Right to Disconnect legislation now applies to small businesses with fewer than 15 employees—closing the gap after applying to larger employers since August 2024. Under this law, employees may refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact from employers (or third parties) outside their working hours—unless such contact is deemed reasonable or involves an emergency.
As a small business owner, it’s important that you take steps to ensure compliance with this new law.
· Start by clarifying expectations about what constitutes acceptable after-hours communication and define clear boundaries.
· Document agreements with your team in your policies or staff agreements.
Over the last 12 months larger employers have noted a reduction in unpaid overtime, improved work-life balance and employee satisfaction after the introduction of this new law. However a culture change was required to ensure the right to disconnect was implemented effectively, and this change needed to start from the top – leaders needed to model disconnection.
This is easier said than done, when we live in a world where we are “always available”.
In today’s digital era, many clients (and staff) expect business owners and leaders to provide instantaneous responses via email, SMS, or chat. This new law invites us all to rethink this “always-on” culture and instead create norms that honour personal time.
As customers and clients of businesses, what are our expectations? Are they reasonable? What is a reasonable timeframe for a response? How should our requests be ‘triaged’ by the business – what demands an immediate response and what can wait? How does the business know what the client expects? You can see that implementing this new law isn’t as clear cut as it may seem.
However, by proactively building respectful communication practices and setting thoughtful expectations, with both clients and staff, small businesses can not only comply with the law but also cultivate healthier and more sustainable work environments.
If you need advice regarding any aspect of business, contact the professional team at UHY Haines Norton CQ Pty Ltd on 0749721300.
