Australia’s “right to disconnect” gives many employees the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to work contact outside working hours where it is reasonable to do so — and while it is a workplace-relations matter, teams that set clear communication norms together tend to adopt it far more smoothly than those relying on policy alone. Facilitated sessions can help teams agree healthy after-hours norms, expectations and language. This guide explains where workshops help. It is general information, not legal advice.
What the right to disconnect means in practice
Under changes to the Fair Work Act, eligible employees can reasonably refuse out-of-hours contact. Whether a refusal is reasonable depends on factors such as the reason for contact, how it is made, the employee’s role and personal circumstances. The mechanics are a legal and industrial-relations matter — for those, rely on Fair Work and qualified advisers. What workshops address is the human side: how a team actually communicates, sets expectations and respects boundaries day to day.
Where a workshop helps
| Workshops can support | Workshops do NOT replace |
|---|---|
| Agreeing team norms for after-hours contact | Your legal obligations or policy |
| Clear communication and expectation-setting | Advice on what is “reasonable” in law |
| Manager confidence modelling boundaries | Workload redesign where hours are the real issue |
| Reducing always-on pressure and improving recovery | Dispute resolution |
A simple team-norms framework
- Channels: which tools are for urgent vs non-urgent, and what “urgent” really means.
- Hours: when the team is and isn’t expected to respond.
- Exceptions: genuine on-call or time-critical situations, agreed in advance.
- Modelling: leaders demonstrating the norms (e.g. scheduling sends), not just stating them.
- Review: revisit the norms after a month and adjust.
Session types that help
Norm-setting connects to communication skills, sustainable performance, and non-clinical wellbeing workshops focused on recovery and pressure.
Common mistakes
- Issuing a policy without building shared team norms.
- Leaders saying one thing and modelling another.
- Treating a workshop as legal compliance — it is not.
- Ignoring the workload that drives after-hours contact in the first place.
When external facilitation is worth it
A neutral facilitator helps a team have an honest conversation about boundaries and reach norms everyone owns. Explore corporate workshops and wellbeing workshops.
Related Culture Vitale sessions
See communication skills and our overview of psychosocial-hazard workshop support. For city sessions, see Sydney and Melbourne.
Plan a session
If you want to help a team set healthy communication norms, Culture Vitale can curate a suitable facilitator. Tell us what you need.
References
- Fair Work Ombudsman — Right to disconnect: fairwork.gov.au
- Safe Work Australia — Psychosocial hazards: safeworkaustralia.gov.au
This article is general information, not legal advice. For your obligations, consult the Fair Work Ombudsman and qualified workplace-relations advisers.