ELMO Employee Sentiment Index Australia (April – June ‘24)

ELMO’s latest Employee Sentiment Index highlights a range of trust issues when it comes to managers and their remote-working direct reports, with three in five Australian managers surveyed saying they feel the need to check in with their direct reports more frequently when they’re working from home or remotely.

Employees, too, are feeling this lack of trust, with over half (63%) of workers surveyed feeling the need to be ‘always contactable’ when working from home.

The survey of 1,000 Australian employees also reveals:

• Only a fifth (21%) of employees feel completely trusted when remote working
• Almost half (49%) of employees feel they should be available after hours when they work from home or remotely
• Women are more likely than men to feel the need to be ‘always contactable’ when working from home (69% versus 58% for men)

The ‘right to disconnect’

The latest ESI report also sheds light on the ‘right to disconnect’ that recently came into effect in Australia.

The survey found just over a third of employees (36%) felt comfortable ignoring a call or email from work outside of their usual hours, but that once the ‘right to disconnect’ took effect, 41% of employees said they’d feel comfortable ignoring out-of-hours work contact.

So, what’s causing a quarter of employees to feel uncomfortable ignoring contact outside of working hours?

Get your free copy of the latest Employee Sentiment Index to find out.