Seeking to beat the gloomy mid-winter, recessionary vibe in Wellington, we recently booked a flop-and-drop trip to Rarotonga. My travel companions scanned Airbnb accommodation for prime beach access. Guest houses with paddle boards and bikes available for use scored highly.
“What about Starlink access?” I asked, a little too eagerly. They looked at me slightly bewildered. Elon Musk’s high-speed satellite broadband service is a game changer for the Pacific Islands, where mobile coverage can be patchy and eye-wateringly expensive for data-hungry users.
But my friends were expecting to spend their days snorkelling with turtles and zipping around the island on scooters, not logging onto the internet. I had a slightly different itinerary in mind, one that included a couple of hours of online time a day, working to keep the home fires burning, part of what PM Christopher Luxon would describe as the “hustle”.
The idea of spending a week or more offline is anathema to me – and most Kiwis. Researchers from Victoria and Otago universities recently surveyed 1012 of us and found that, “Most New Zealanders disconnect infrequently [from the internet] or not at all: 86% of participants reported they never (22%), rarely (32%) or sometimes (32%) disconnect.”
Younger people (18-24) struggle to disconnect more than older people (75-plus). “Nearly a third reported they do not disconnect because their family or friends expect them to be available,” the researchers also noted, pointing out women are more likely to say this, and reflecting “lingering social norms” about being available.
Being digitally connected has become so ingrained in modern life that we resort to detox holidays and time-limiting phone apps to curb our exposure. But the pandemic also changed the nature of work forever, leading to more people working part of the week at home.
I viewed this as a liberating movement, freeing people from the grind of the daily commute and empowering them to work to their own schedule. What’s the difference if you do a few loads of washing between Zoom meetings? The flip side is that the line between work and home life has blurred.
A 2023 Australia Institute study estimated Australian workers on average were doing an extra 5.4 hours of unpaid work a week. That equates to A$11,055 (NZ$12,122) of unpaid work over a year.
This “time theft” has led Australia to this month introduce changes to the Fair Work Act, which will give workers the legal right to disconnect from work communication outside their usual working hours.
France took this step in 2017 and Portugal went further in 2021, imposing fines on employers who message or call employees outside of agreed working hours. As someone who works at all hours of the day in front of my computer, virtually, with people around the world, I find this bizarre.
Any good employer will value the quality of your work more than where you work from or what hours you keep. Output should matter more than the inputs. But some employers will push the envelope. In a sluggish labour market, more of us may be inclined to work on that company report late at night to keep the boss happy.
But as with the mobile phone ban in schools, disconnection mandates aren’t the answer. “Teaching young people how to disconnect, rather than doing it for them, will be crucial in an ever-more-connected future,” the researchers point out.
For the rest of us grown-ups, we should continue to push for flexibility in working arrangements that allow us to choose when to work while avoiding the time theft that is prohibited by existing employment law.
