WORKPLACE SPECIAL... It is time to ‘switch off’ work

 It is time to ‘switch off’ work 

Co’s Wean Staff From E-Devices To Balance Job & Life

    Resolutions to change behaviour are common at this time of year, but they usually involve exercising more or smoking less. Now, some companies are adopting policies aimed at weaning employees from their electronic devices.

    Atos, an international information technology company, plans to phase out all e-mails among employees by the end of 2013 and rely instead on other forms of communication. And starting in the new year, employees at Daimler, the German automaker, can have incoming e-mail automatically deleted during vacations so they do not return to a flooded in-box. An automatic message tells the sender which person is temporarily dealing with the employee’s e-mail.

    No one is expected to be on call at all hours of the day and night, and “switching off ” after work is important, “even if you are on a business trip,” said Sabrina Schrimpf, a Daimler spokeswoman, referring to the company’s recently released report, “Balanced! — Reconciling Employees’ Work and Private Lives”.

    Disconnecting can be more challenging for business travellers who frequently work across time zones. And there is a ripple effect, said Leslie A Perlow, a professor of leadership at Harvard Business School and the author of “Sleeping With Your Smartphone”. “These guys fly in the middle of the night and send emails back to colleagues” who wait up, ready to respond.

    A study conducted last spring by the Pew Research Center found that while mobile phones were valued as a way to stay productive, there were downsides to being available at all times.

    The nationwide survey of 2,254 adults found that 44% of cellphone owners had slept with their phone next to their bed and that 67% had experienced “phantom rings”, checking their phone even when it was not ringing.

    Sam Chapman, chief executive of Empower Public Relations in Chicago, was one such cellphone user. He said he frequently checked email in the middle of the night and as result slept poorly, did not feel refreshed in the morning. “I wanted to make sure that what happened to me didn’t happen to my employees.”

    So Chapman adopted what he called a BlackBerry blackout policy. He and his staff of about 20 turn off their BlackBerrys from 6 pm to 6 am on weekdays and completely on weekends for all workrelated use, with rare exceptions. “When I’m well rested, I show up to work ready to go,” he said.

    But it is not always easy. In early 2012, when Michelle Barry, Mark Jacobsen and a third partner created Centric Brand Anthropology, a Seattle-based company that advises clients on brand strategy, design and culture management, they gave serious thought to the issue.

    “A huge priority for us was to have a good balance between work-life,” said Jacobsen, Centric’s vice president and creative director. “Yet we have found that very difficult to do while working with large multinational clients,” which often require international travel and constant availability.

Tanya Mohn NYT TOI130102