Australia recently introduced a “right to disconnect” law allowing employees at larger companies to avoid work communications outside of set hours. Employees are now protected from having to respond to after-hours calls and emails, a rule which will extend to small and medium-sized businesses in 2025. Vodia Networks has supported work-life separation since launching its multi-tenant PBX system over a decade ago. Vodia’s app includes features such as Do-Not-Disturb (DND) modes and service flags, allowing employees to manage after-hours calls and redirect communications to different offices or voicemail as needed. These capabilities support productivity without compromising employee balance.
As of August 26th, Australians now have “the right to disconnect,” the legal right to no longer respond to calls and emails after work hours. This doesn’t mean employers can’t contact employees beyond set work hours, but employees have the right to refuse to respond to or take these emails and calls. The legislation applies to larger companies, with SMB employees to be granted the right to disconnect beginning August 25, 2025. The law is similar to the right to disconnect legislation passed in Portugal in 2021, which made it illegal for employers to contact staff outside business hours, and from a law in place in France since 2017 which requires companies with 50 or more employees to negotiate new out-of-office email guidelines with staff.
At Vodia, we implemented this in our multi-tenant PBX more than half-a-decade ago. We have been committed to innovation from the day we hung out a shingle in 2012, and the separation of work and personal calls is one of the core features of our phone system, regardless of an employee’s preferred endpoint. Our PBX is designed to enable controlled business hours.
The Vodia app for mobile also gives users the ability to set their devices on do-not-disturb (DND) for after-hours calls and for the redirection of these calls; our DND feature can also be enabled and disabled at selected dates and times with our app. We also give you service flags that can be enabled or disabled so calls outside of business hours can be directed to other offices, either in the same time zone or different time zones, or to voicemail for receipt and response the following day or days.
Our phone system also gives you extensive call flow customization, so employees can opt in and out of DND as necessary - this can be done without any reduction in productivity or the potential loss of business, which often happens with lost calls or when customers find themselves lost in labyrinthine voice systems. Our best-in-class tools actually increase productivity by streamlining call flows and dealing with any and all caller activity.
As more countries enact the right to disconnect legislation, DND features and the separation of work and personal calls will become crucial to legal business operations worldwide. For enterprises and SMBs looking to comply with these laws, and to support their employees’ work-life balance, there’s no better cloud phone system to deploy than Vodia. How do we know how it works so well? Our team uses all of these features at our offices in Australia, China, Cyprus, France, Germany and the USA. Find out how we do it by contacting us at sales@vodia.com or at +1 (617) 861-3490.
About Vodia Networks
Vodia Networks, Inc. is a pioneering provider of B2B Cloud Communications Solutions catering to enterprises, contact centers and service providers. Vodia's PBX software boasts an extensive suite of business telephony features for on-premise and cloud-based systems and operates seamlessly across Windows, Linux or Mac platforms. Fully compliant with SIP industry standards, the Vodia phone system integrates effortlessly with a wide range of SIP-based devices and trunking providers, granting ultimate freedom in telephony. Vodia’s multi-tenancy platforms are compatible with an unprecedented number of technologies, including desk phones, softphones and APIs, for myriad third-party software and CRM systems. Our mission is to empower our partners and end-users with the world's best cloud PBX and personalized support to ensure their success at every turn. Our US headquarters are in Boston and our European headquarters are in Berlin; we also maintain offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Nicosia (Cyprus) and Sydney, Australia. Visit Vodia on LinkedIn, X and YouTube.
Vodia’s cloud PBX system enhances the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) function for hotels, allowing guests to manage their privacy through buttons in the room or on the phone. The system syncs with PMS for seamless functionality, enabling hotel operators to manually override DND when guests struggle to disable it. For critical situations, like room service follow-ups, the system allows specific extensions to bypass DND, ensuring guests are reachable when needed. VIP guest management features, guest-to-guest call restrictions and automatic resets upon checkout ensure privacy, security, and convenience, improving the guest experience while maintaining operational efficiency.
As businesses increasingly adopt Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), understanding its impact on Voice over IP (VoIP) is essential. While WLAN offers flexibility and mobility, it can lead to call quality issues due to packet loss and bursts during access point switching. To combat these challenges, organizations can utilize robust codecs like OPUS which are designed to handle packet loss effectively and employ Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to enhance jitter buffers. By incorporating these solutions, companies can ensure a more reliable VoIP experience that meets the demands of modern workplaces, allowing seamless communication without interruptions.
In the late 1980s, prank calls were a common form of entertainment but often caused confusion, similar to today’s call forwarding glitches. Recently, a client migrating to a new PBX system experienced disruptions when users mistyped numbers for call forwarding. While user errors are common, there's a bigger concern: calls being misdirected to emergency numbers or costly lines, especially since many VoIP phones lack security features. Solutions include restricting call forwarding to internal numbers, blocking access or allowing only specific, pre-approved numbers. Ultimately, balancing control over settings is essential to prevent glitches while keeping systems user-friendly.
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