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Time to Unplug? (Sonya Premeaux Commentary)

4 min read

Smartphones and other electronic devices have increased workers’ flexibility in terms of where and when they work, enhancing feelings of autonomy and control. They also increase collaboration with co-workers, allowing quick and easy access to company files and email while providing direct connections to clients and saving time. But there is a dark side of digital communication at work, especially if the work is occurring late in the evening.

Cramming more work in a day through electronic devices may backfire. First, evening smartphone use is known to interfere with sleep. Late-night exposure to the light of smartphones can make getting to sleep difficult. Given that cellphones are rarely turned off, and many people keep them by their beds, it is common for sleep to be disrupted as messages and notifications are received. Smartphone use at night can trigger thoughts and concerns about ongoing work issues and deadlines, hindering the ability to psychologically detach from work and further interfering with sleep. Failure to get enough sleep leads to lower employee engagement, poor performance, unethical behavior, work injuries, cyberloafing and more.

Second, after-hours email and other forms of electronic work tend to blur boundaries between work and personal life, often leading to feelings of conflict and work-related stress. Electronic communications for after-hours work is associated with negative spillover into other areas, which can contribute to burnout and job dissatisfaction and lower family satisfaction. Work-life conflict hurts physical and psychological well-being, lowers job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance and increases turnover intentions and absenteeism.

The disadvantages of after-hours connectivity are not unique to U.S. workers. Companies around the world are searching for ways to capitalize on after-hours technology-assisted communication without losing productivity or lowering employee engagement. Often the problem lies not with company policies or formally stated expectations, but with presumed expectations and fear of seeming uncommitted. Social norms and organizational culture have a big impact on technology use after hours. If the boss is sending emails at midnight, workers may get the impression that they, too, should be connected 24/7. And when co-workers respond to emails and text messages right away, workers feel social pressure to do the same or risk looking bad to bosses and peers.

So what’s a company to do? The challenge is to find a way to shield workers from too much connectivity while still allowing them the freedom to use technology in ways that help them excel at their jobs and balance work and family life. A one-size-fits-all policy is probably not the best approach as workers vary in their views of device use during off hours. Engaged workers do not perceive smartphones and other electronic devices as interfering with their home lives to the same degree that disengaged workers do. Addressing issues of employee engagement, or disengagement, may lessen workers’ felt work-life conflict and their perceptions of work intrusion into their personal lives, including that caused by electronic devices.

Managers need to monitor their own device use and recognize the impact their behavior has on employees. When sending late-night or early-morning emails, managers need to understand that they may be creating the impression of expected around-the-clock availability through their own work habits. Managers need to be clear about what is expected and should remind employees of the need to unplug at a reasonable hour.

Company policies can limit hours when employees are allowed to send work emails and/or use the technology itself to control overuse. For example, one health care consulting company in Philadelphia has a policy that discourages email use from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. on weekdays and all weekend. Daimler allows its employees in Germany to opt in to a service that automatically deletes all email when an employee is on vacation. The idea is to remove the temptation to check email while on holiday and to eliminate returning to find a flooded in-box. Volkswagen programmed its email server to stop delivering email 30 minutes after work until 30 minutes before the start of the next day with no email sent on weekends.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, managers need to be aware of the potential problems created by after-hours use of electronic devices, communicate with employees about their preferences and experiences, and be flexible in their approach to addressing over-connectivity. As of Jan. 1, French workers have the legal right to disconnect from email, smartphones and other devices that tether them to their jobs. Government regulation is probably not needed here, but smart management practices are.


Sonya Premeaux is the associate dean for graduate studies in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business. Email her at SFPremeaux@UALR.edu.
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