Right to Disconnect
What is the Right to Disconnect legislation?
The Right to Disconnect legislation came into effect in August 2024 and is a significant change to the Fair Work Act (2009). It is designed to ensure that employees have the right to disengage from work-related communications outside of their regular working hours. This means that they are not obligated to respond to emails, messages, or calls related to work during their personal time. The primary goal of this legislation is to promote a healthy work-life balance, reduce stress, and improve overall wellbeing.
How will this legislation benefit the school community?
By respecting the ‘Right to Disconnect’, we can maintain a healthy and balanced environment for our staff, which ultimately benefits our students and their families.
How does this legislation impact school communications?
As a school community, we are required to adhere to this legislation to support the wellbeing of our staff. Staff will not be expected to respond to work-related communications outside of their regular working hours. This includes evenings, weekends, and holidays. We kindly ask parents/carers to respect this boundary.
What are ‘regular working hours’?
Staff will not be expected to respond to work-related communications outside of their regular working hours, which includes evenings, weekends, and public holidays. The specific hours vary according to the area of the College in which staff work and their particular role/responsibilities. The standard operating hours of the College are 8.00am to 4.00pm weekdays, however many staff have classes, meetings and co-curricular activities before and after these times and at weekends, with some school commitments extending into evenings.
What is the expected response time to emails/phone messages?
You can continue to expect an acknowledgement of an email/phone call within two business days (term time, excluding weekends/public holidays). This allows for staff commitments both within and outside of the timetabled day.
What should I do if I do not receive an acknowledgement of my communication within a reasonable time frame?
Please complete the Feedback Form. This will go to the relevant member of the Executive for follow up.
Can students contact their teachers after regular school hours?
Students can send emails to teachers after the end of the school day, but teachers are not expected to monitor their emails or respond outside of their regular working hours. We will be discussing this with students in the coming weeks. It is important to bear in mind that teachers often have co-curricular commitments after school, are attending meetings or are engaged in marking/lesson preparation.
What about communication during non-term time?
Please be aware that staff may be on scheduled breaks and may not monitor and respond to emails as they do during regular term time. In line with the Right to Disconnect legislation, we appreciate your patience with non-urgent queries, which will be addressed as quickly as possible upon staff return.
Does this represent a cultural change in communication with the College?
No. We remain committed to providing timely responses to communications and to maintaining our duty of care to all students. It represents an adjustment to communications outside of regular hours to support the wellbeing of staff and to ensure compliance with the legislation.
How can parents/carers help in supporting this legislation?
Please consider only sending or scheduling emails (e.g. using Outlook’s “Delay Delivery” function) during the College’s standard operating hours (8.00am-4:00pm, weekdays). If you need to communicate something important outside of these hours, please be aware that a response may not be immediate.
Further information about communication at Oxley can be found on our website: Communication – Oxley College
Kind regards
Mark Case
Deputy Head of College