For many people, answering work calls or messages during evenings or weekends may be stressful. However, Australia has decided to put a stop to that. As of August 2024, Australian workers will no longer be required to respond to employers outside of working hours, in an effort to provide a healthier work life balance. As a result, workers may feel happier and less stressed.
It has already been well documented that overworking can cause burnout, leading to impacts such as higher stress levels, sleep disorders, moodswings, and overall bad mental health, to name a few. It’s for these reasons that other countries have decided to take similar measures, including a law in Belgium that stops bosses calling you after work hours, alongside Austria, Chile, Denmark, Italy, Greece, to name a handful. However, there are many more that have followed the same path.
Speaking to Junkee, Leader of the Greens Party Adam Bandt explains: “If you are expected to be available on call all the time, it affects your personal life, your home life, and your family life. It makes people less healthy and puts additional stress on people to be always on and always available. This is about making people’s lives better and changing the expectation of bosses, who shouldn’t be able to expect that people are available outside of working hours if they’re not getting paid for it.”
All of these changes come after several countries around the world have also successfully tested the four-day work week, another incentive that focuses on employee's well-being, giving them more time off while their pay stays the same. Some countries include Belgium, Iceland, Canada, Denmark, among many others. Again, the focus of this is to improve employees well-being and work-life balance.