With the technological capacity to work anywhere, any time – or, as many feel, “everywhere, all the time” – it is increasingly difficult for employees to switch off when they leave the office.
Company-supplied communications devices accompany them home, to family gatherings, to dinners out with friends. Some fast-trackers even sleep with their electronic gadgets (although often it’s consensual).
Now employees – and, to a certain extent, their employers – are attempting to re-establish some boundaries.
Employees are staggering under the weight of expectations, either real or perceived, that they have to be “always on.” Employers are concerned – or should be – not only about employee burnout, but about running afoul of employment standards laws governing hours of work, say Krista Hiddema and Stuart Ducoffe, partners in a Toronto-based employment law firm and co-founders of human resources consulting firm e2r Solutions.
So in the spirit of loosening the bonds, if not slipping them, here are 10 pointers from the pros:
Don’t be Pavlovian
Curb the urge to instantly respond to every work-related message or phone call, says workflow and productivity consultant Robert Steinbach. “You can’t control the incoming e-mails, because it’s just a barrage, but you can control what you do with your time,” he says. “I counsel my clients to make appointments with themselves for checking e-mail.”
If you are off the air, say so
“Choose what’s right for you and then be clear about when you are available and accessible,” says Nora Spinks, chief executive officer of the Vanier Institute of the Family. Use a voice mail greeting or bounce-back e-mail to say you will be checking messages at such and such a time, Ms. Spinks says. Advising correspondents on when they can expect a response has the added benefit of allowing them “to get on with their day.” If it’s a genuine work emergency, they’ll track you down.
Time to invest in a second device?
Some people have two devices, one for work and one for home, but there’s “still a large proportion of people who have their work and personal on one device, so you can’t shut off,” says Karen Seward, executive vice-president for marketing and business development at Morneau Shepell. “If you pick up the phone and you are looking at it for your personal and there’s your work, how do you stop getting engaged?”
Check the company policy
There’s growing recognition among employers that just because employees can work 24/7 doesn’t mean they should, Ms. Hiddema and Mr. Ducoffe said in a recent presentation on managing round-the-clock expectations. Some employers now have policies explicitly restricting the use of BlackBerrys and other devices for work-related business on nights and weekends. “It protects employees from burnout but, quite frankly, it also protects employers against allegations that may surface later in regard to unpaid overtime,” Ms. Hiddema says.
Clarify expectations
If there is no written policy, ask what is expected of you with that company-issued – and paid for – smartphone or tablet. For employees, there are obvious benefits: the flexibility of being able to telecommute, to get a jump on the day by working on the commuter train, to work on that overseas deal from home instead of trekking to the office in the middle of the night. But when does the workday end and private time begin? Before initiating this conversation, though, be aware of “the undercurrents that we all know exist in the workplace,” and try to raise the issue in a way that doesn’t label you as “a person who is not on the fast track,” Mr. Ducoffe suggests.
Work out the parameters
