Opinion Express View on hustle culture: Connect, disconnect

The curious thing about words is that they can change the very thing they are supposed to explain. Take “gig worker”. The term conjures up a young millennial, or even an old Gen-Z chap, sitting in an artisanal (read over-priced) coffee shop engaged in a white-collar well-paying semi-creative profession — coding, designing, etc. This creature’s time is her own. Now, take “unorganised sector labourer”. A very different picture comes up — this person is the picture of, and often euphemism for, the exploited. The Closing Loopholes Bill, passed earlier this week by the Australian Parliament, makes it clear that the gig worker, like the labourer, needs protection.

Among the slew of provisions in the Bill, the ones around the right to disconnect and the path to formalisation for gig workers have received the most attention. The former allows workers not to take calls or answer emails on holidays or outside working hours. The logic is simple — being constantly “connected” and “on-call” is, in essence, unpaid overtime. Whether in office or not, work is work. The path to formalisation is a bit more complex. On the one hand, it ensures benefits and long-term security, and on the other, the flexibility that many people now prize may become a more scarce phenomenon. Australia’s proposed law, if and when implemented, will put it in the company of countries in Europe that have allowed the right to disconnect. Beyond the nitty-gritty of the economics of the law, though, is the waning halo around the idea of the gig worker.

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Yes, there is a minority, the so-called “digital nomads”, who can use flexible work hours to their advantage. For many, if not most, though, the blurred line between work and non-work has meant the former creeps its way into the latter — without overtime pay. As more countries recognise that gig workers need protection, perhaps the 70-hour work-week will not be considered a virtue. In a disconnected utopia, workers won’t check their emails. Just Instagram.