The workplace has changed. Hybrid work, constant connectivity, and flexible schedules have blurred the lines between work and personal life. But the challenge isn’t just about boundaries; it’s also about the lack of clarity around how and when we communicate. With so many tools at our disposal—email, instant messaging, project management platforms, video calls—the sheer variety leaves people unsure about what’s expected.
Australia’s Right to Disconnect laws add another layer to this complexity. These laws, already in place for larger businesses and set to apply to smaller ones in 2025, aim to protect employees’ personal time. But what does that look like in practice? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Teams vary: a shift-based care team has vastly different communication needs to an office team working 9-to-5.
That’s why team norms are crucial. These shared agreements define when and how communication happens, ensuring everyone knows what’s expected. Norms aren’t just about compliance; they’re about creating clarity, building trust, and fostering a culture where your team can perform at its best.
Why laws alone aren’t enough
The Right to Disconnect laws give employees the legal right to step away from work outside of scheduled hours unless there’s an emergency or prior agreement. While that’s a great start, laws alone don’t change behaviour. Nor do they address grey areas, like what counts as an emergency or which tools to use for after-hours contact.
True change comes from clear communication, strong leadership, and team-wide accountability. To get there, you need to involve your team. Rules dictated from above won’t stick. Instead, co-create norms with your team to build buy-in and ensure they are practical, not just theoretical. This collaborative approach will foster mutual respect and ensure the norms reflect your team’s realities—not just management’s expectations.
Effective team norms: The key questions
Clear team norms answer two critical questions:
- When is contact necessary?
Not every after-hours message is an emergency. Work with your team to define what’s truly urgent and what can wait. For example:
- Emergencies: Safety issues, last-minute staffing gaps, or major operational crises.
- Critical deadlines: Time-sensitive decisions or deliverables that can’t wait until morning.
Ask your team:
- What qualifies as an emergency?
- What kinds of communication can wait until the next workday?
If you don’t define what’s urgent, you’ll end up with differing interpretations—and that’s where tension and stress creep in.
- How should we communicate?
The method of communication matters just as much as timing. Different tools suit different situations, and your team needs clarity about which to use. Examples include:
- Emergencies: Phone calls or SMS for immediate action.
- Non-urgent updates: Emails scheduled to arrive during business hours, with no expectation of an immediate response.
- Routine matters: Collaboration platforms may be appropriate (e.g., task management tools) to reduce unnecessary disruptions.
The key is to make sure everyone knows the purpose of each tool and feels confident in how and when to use them, without feeling overwhelmed by too many platforms.
Watch out for power dynamics
Even with clear norms, power dynamics can undermine them. A manager sending emails at night might unintentionally pressure team members to respond immediately—even if the message says, “No need to reply until tomorrow.”
The fix? Use scheduling tools to send emails during work hours. Better yet, make non-urgent communication outside of work hours the exception, not the rule. Remember, your behaviour sets the tone. If you’re firing off late-night emails, you’re signalling that the norms don’t really matter. If you expect your team to honour boundaries, you must model the behaviour yourself. That means:
- Respect personal time: Avoid non-urgent communication outside of work hours.
- Celebrate good behaviour: Acknowledge team members who follow the norms.
Walk the talk: If you want people to leave work on time, make sure you’re doing it too.
Keeping norms front and centre
Team norms aren’t a one-and-done exercise. To make them stick:
- Check in regularly: Are the norms working? What needs adjusting?
- Reinforce often: Refer to them in meetings and feedback sessions.
- Stay consistent: Hold yourself and others accountable for living the norms.
Clear team norms around communication aren’t just a nice-to-have—they’re essential. They provide clarity, reduce stress, and help people feel confident about disconnecting when they need to.
With the Right to Disconnect laws extending in August 2025, now is the time to redefine the way you lead. In the current age of hybrid – or even fully remote – working, the lines between work and personal time have become blurred, but with new legislation coming into place, leaders need to learn how to draw clearer lines. To prepare for the new laws, you can watch our Lead the Way: Are you switched on to Switching Off? webinar, which is designed to help leaders understand the risks and provide practical advice to help navigate the upcoming changes.
