The stress of the electron leash that keeps you tethered to the office 24/7 may require more than just taking a mental-health day to recuperate.
Stewart Friedman, a management professor at Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, says that being perpetually connected by portable electronic devices is hindering people’s ability to separate the important things from the minutiae in both work and life.
The wired world is stealing the regular downtime that workers used to enjoy. And this time off — even if it is just hours spent vegging at night in front of the TV — helps improve worker productivity the next day.
“Employers are recognizing that it is helpful for employees to have boundaries,” says Friedman. But bosses need to be on board for this to work.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2010, the average American works 8.6 hours per day, compared with 7.6 hours sleeping and 2.6 hours involved in leisure or sports. About 35 percent of Americans also work on the weekends — and that’s in the midst of a lousy economy.
It may seem unreal to demand that workers not check their e-mail for an entire weekend or week of vacation. For some people, being completely disconnected is more stressful than the work itself.
Friedman believes that a tailored approach is best, depending on the industry, the company and the individual.
“It’s better to take an hour a day to check in with the office before they go to the beach or go on a hike with their family,” he says, adding that some people prefer to have limitations on working during non-working hours or vacation but not be barred from it altogether. “Flexibility is the essential element. But it’s got to be defined and driven by the employee.”
Of course, the employee doesn’t dictate what the boss demands.
Just knowing that you could be contacted by your office — even if you aren’t — can put today’s worker more on edge than his counterpart in the pre-cellphone era, when a person could skip away from office chores (not to mention family ones) without the possibility of being tracked down.
A 31-year-old woman on the Upper West Side who runs a foundation says, “I think a lot of bosses give lip service to the idea of ‘don’t work too much,’ but in reality they want you to be available around the clock.”
Another New Yorker, who works in branding, explains that being available and connected 24/7 is the new normal.
“I’m never disconnected — except in the subway. They want us to be available for them all the time, for sure.”
Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2010, Friedman, workers
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