The email from bosses that’s sparking outrage among Aussie workers – here’s what you can do about it

An increasingly common email signature used by bosses has left workers fuming about feeling pressured to work out of hours.

Communication and human skills specialist and author Leah Mether said since the new right to disconnect legislation was introduced in Australia, bosses have started using the signature to cover themselves. 

The message which says ‘I choose to work flexibly but please don’t feel like you need to respond until your working hours’, means bosses can get away with contacting their workers out of hours.

‘Leaders will say to me “well, I’m doing my bit there, Leah”, but you’ve got to be aware of that power dynamic,’ Ms Mether said. 

‘You get that person trying to make a good impression – they’re new, they’re young.

‘They want to impress you. They may still be responding.’ 

In Australia, employees won the right disconnect from late August this year.

According to the Fair Work Commission, workers can ‘refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact from their employer, or another person if the contact or attempted contact is work-related’.

Ms Mether said many bosses are now putting this signature on their emails (pictured)

For staff, receiving the message with the signature is also like a guessing game, questioning if bosses really mean it because they are sending emails after hours, Ms Mether said.  

‘As a leader you have to be very conscious of modelling the behaviour you’re asking of your team,’ she said.

‘I’m saying all of the right things, however I’m the leader and I never leave on time – or early – if they don’t see you prioritising your life out of work, actions speak louder than words.’

Ms Mether said workers will believe a leader’s behaviour rather than what they say, and companies need to be aware of the added pressure this can place on staff.

‘It makes it harder for people to hold their own boundaries because they do feel like they’re out of step with the cultural norms of that team,’ she said.

The communication and human skills specialist said even with leaders assuring staff ‘you don’t have to respond at night’, they actually need to stop sending the emails in the first place. 

‘If you choose to work at night because that works for you, you need to be scheduling emails so they turn up in peoples’ work hours,’ she said.

‘There’s no excuse to not do that in this day and age – it’s so easy to do. Learn how.’ 

Ms Mether also warned bosses and workers that the new legislation allowing the right to disconnect will not work unless they step up and discuss what it means for them.

‘We need to discuss around how and when are we communicating with each other,’ she said.

‘What’s OK and what’s not OK. Each industry and role is different because there are some roles that we have to be available outside of standard hours.’

Ms Mether said for those roles, it could be a case of asking to be texted after hours rather than via email so a worker doesn’t have to constantly check their phone. 

For workers who are worried they are not being heard, Ms Mether said they needed to raise it in a ‘smart and strategic’ way rather than presenting it as a “this is my boundary and you need to respect it”.’

Ms Mether also said employees need to have a conversation with their boss on how and when they can be contacted – and if it is part of their role, they can suggest which mode of communication is best for them 

‘Present it in a way where you’re essentially looking for the win-win with your leader,’ she said

‘Say “I want to make sure I am doing my best work for you and to do my best work I need to turn off and recharge so I can give 100 per cent at work”.

‘You’re also presenting your boundaries in a way that shows the leader this is in their best interest too. This is what the smart communicators do.’

Ms Mether said there is a relearning happening for bosses and workers who are 40 and over because in the past, longer hours meant a person was working hard.

‘A lot of older workers – we came out of the hustle culture,’ she said. 

‘How we were trained is not how we get optimal performance.

‘All research shows us that after a certain point workers become really unproductive.’