Compare right-to-disconnect obligations in France, Ireland, Belgium and Australia to identify what a defensible policy must cover.
Human Resources & Personal Development
Right to Disconnect Policies and Out-of-Hours Communication Norms
Gives HR and people leaders a practical method to write a right-to-disconnect policy, separate genuine on-call urgency from habitual after-hours contact, and change the manager behaviour that drives always-on culture.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
A right-to-disconnect policy that sits in the handbook while managers keep sending evening emails changes nothing, because employees copy what their manager actually does far more than what any policy says. A growing number of jurisdictions, including France, Ireland, Belgium and Australia, now give this problem legal weight, either through a defined statutory right or a code of practice that employers are expected to follow. This course gives HR and people leaders a practical method for writing a policy that holds up against these frameworks and, more importantly, for changing the behaviour that makes it real. Participants learn to define normal working hours for teams that span time zones, distinguish genuine operational urgency that justifies on-call contact from habitual out-of-hours messaging that does not, and configure collaboration tools with delayed send and quiet-hours settings that support the policy rather than undermine it. The course puts particular weight on manager behaviour, since research and practice consistently show that stated policy loses to observed habit, and works through how to brief and hold managers accountable for modelling the norm they are asking others to follow. Participants leave with a right-to-disconnect policy, a manager behaviour guide and a monitoring approach that tracks whether after-hours contact is actually falling.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Define normal working hours and core collaboration windows for teams that operate across multiple time zones.
Distinguish genuine on-call or incident-response urgency from habitual out-of-hours communication that a policy should curb.
Configure collaboration and email tools with delayed send and quiet-hours settings that reinforce disconnection norms.
Brief and hold managers accountable for modelling out-of-hours behaviour rather than only communicating a written policy.
Draft a communication norms charter that a team agrees together rather than one imposed without discussion.
Track after-hours message volume and employee feedback to measure whether the policy is changing real behaviour.
Who Should Attend
HR directors and people leaders drafting or updating a right-to-disconnect policy.
Line managers and team leaders whose own habits shape their team's after-hours behaviour.
Employee wellbeing and occupational health specialists addressing burnout and always-on culture.
Employee relations professionals in organisations operating under statutory right-to-disconnect rules.
Global and distributed team leads managing collaboration across multiple time zones.
IT and workplace technology teams configuring notification and communication tool settings.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01The Right to Disconnect in Law and Culture
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1What the Law Now Requires
- Compare France's statutory right to disconnect, Ireland's code of practice and Belgium's and Australia's more recent provisions.
- Identify the employer size thresholds and negotiation or consultation obligations attached to each framework.
- Distinguish a legal right not to be penalised for disconnecting from an absolute ban on any out-of-hours contact.
- Assess exposure in jurisdictions without a specific statute, where existing working time and health and safety law still applies.
Session 2Why Written Policy Alone Does Not Work
- Examine why employees calibrate their own after-hours behaviour on what managers actually do, not on stated policy.
- Identify the organisational costs of always-on culture, including burnout, presenteeism and quiet attrition.
- Distinguish roles and moments where some out-of-hours contact is a genuine operational necessity from those where it is habit.
- Set realistic expectations that policy change must be paired with visible behaviour change to have any effect.
02Designing the Policy and Communication Norms
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Defining Hours, Urgency and Exceptions
- Define normal working hours and core collaboration windows for domestic teams and for teams spanning time zones.
- Build a clear test for genuine urgency, distinguishing on-call and incident response from routine work that can wait.
- Draft exception provisions for on-call rotas and safety-critical roles that are separate from general expectations.
- Address statutory or contractual on-call and standby pay obligations that interact with any disconnection commitment.
Session 2Building a Team Communication Norms Charter
- Facilitate a team discussion that produces a communication norms charter the team helps write and therefore owns.
- Agree channel norms, such as which platform is for urgent contact and which is for anything that can wait.
- Address norms for international teams so no single time zone carries the burden of every early or late meeting.
- Build a review point so the charter can be adjusted as team composition or workload changes.
03Changing Manager Behaviour
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Modelling the Norm, Not Just Stating It
- Brief managers on how their own send times, response expectations and visible habits shape team behaviour.
- Coach managers to use delayed send and scheduling tools so messages do not land in an inbox outside agreed hours.
- Address manager anxiety about appearing unresponsive and reframe visible restraint as a leadership behaviour.
- Build accountability into manager objectives so modelling disconnection norms is recognised, not incidental.
Session 2Handling Pressure and Escalation Fairly
- Design an escalation path for genuinely urgent matters that does not rely on informal after-hours messaging as a workaround.
- Coach managers to handle senior or client pressure for immediate responses without passing that pressure straight to their team.
- Address cross-border team pressure where one region's normal hours fall in another region's evening or night.
- Prepare managers to have a direct conversation with a persistent out-of-hours communicator, peer or senior colleague alike.
04Technology, Measurement and Continuous Improvement
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Configuring Tools to Support the Policy
- Configure delayed send, quiet-hours notifications and status settings across email and collaboration platforms.
- Set default meeting-scheduling windows that respect core hours across the time zones a team actually works in.
- Balance configuration changes against genuine business need for occasional flexibility, avoiding rigid, unworkable settings.
- Pilot technology changes with one team before rolling out configuration changes organisation-wide.
Session 2Confirming the Culture Shift Took Hold
- Track after-hours message and email volume using platform analytics to establish a baseline and monitor change.
- Run short employee pulse surveys on perceived pressure to respond outside working hours.
- Correlate disconnection metrics with wellbeing and retention indicators to build the business case for continued investment.
- Report progress and residual risk to leadership, including any teams where habitual out-of-hours contact persists.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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