Sometimes, governments make decisions that have unintended consequences that impact the practical ways certain industries work. Canberra’s latest effort to over-regulate comes in the form of changes to the Fair Work Act that formalise an employee’s ‘right to disconnect’. The legislation came into effect on 26th August.
The changes effectively mean an employee may refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer outside of the employee’s normal working hours. As an employer, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for an employee to ignore my phone call after hours, and unless it was a serious emergency, I wouldn’t be calling them after hours anyway. But do we really need to make a law for it?
For the real estate industry, the implications could be significant. The business of real estate – sales or property management – doesn’t happen during usual business hours. The laws extend to an employee (sales representative or property manager) refusing to monitor, read or respond to contact from a third party if the contact relates to their work. This includes contact from vendors, tenants, buyers and landlords.
The obvious issues for national companies operating in Western Australia have been neatly overlooked by east coasters with the 3-hour time difference in summer and could mean an effective workday starting in midday in Melbourne and Sydney and ending here two hours later.
The changes could result in lost business if employees refuse to take urgent calls on a critical matter, such as a live sale negotiation. And what about a matter concerning safety at a property where property or person is at risk where a worker is required to manage such emergencies?
For example, a tenant, needing assistance to get into their home after losing their keys at 6 pm can now expect no reply from their property manager. A vendor, – in theory – wanting to know how Saturday’s home open went, can’t demand a response from their sales agent until Monday morning.
Most real estate employees will ignore the new laws and carry-on providing service to their clients, tenants and buyers outside normal working hours. It won’t be until something goes wrong with the employer / employee relationship that issues might arise. Employers could find themselves in strife with the Fair Work Commission if a disgruntled employee seeking easy money claims they were expected to work outside normal business hours without the right to disconnect.
Employees working from home further muddies the water given these arrangements enable a degree of flexibility that transcends normal work hours anyway.
Time will tell what impacts come from these laws that seem to be an answer to a question no one ever really asked.
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