When you leave the office on Friday afternoon, do you say goodbye to work until Monday or just until you’re finished your commute?
For many employees, the weekend may no longer be a respite from work. A new survey from Right Management has found that 37% of employees often receive work-related emails from their boss on the weekend and are expected to respond. Thirty-one percent said this happens from time to time, and only 32% were able to say that this never happens.
“The convenience of workplace technology is matched by its pervasiveness and, according to our survey, intrusiveness beyond the workplace. For a growing number of workers, their weekend is no longer their own, and work is never far from their mind,” said Michael Haid, senior vice-president of talent management for Right Management.
“Being tuned in to work seven days a week may become the norm, if it hasn’t already. We are unsure whether this is symptomatic of the high-pressured volatile economy or just the new ‘business as usual’ workplace. Having this type of ‘on-demand’ technology, reaching anyone at any time, definitely reshapes the thinking on what might constitute work/life balance as work life and private life may no longer exist as separate spaces.”