A recent survey of 600 smartphone owning employees, has shown that actually, in addition to simplifying our lives by making everything more accessible, this same notion of accessibility is resulting in the average employee working up to 15 hours longer each week. How? well, having the ability to access email directly and instantly on handsets like the Blackberry Curve 8520/8900, which is a firm favourite amongst the work-a-holics, means that even away from the office, we’re still spending time tapping away, checking and responding to work email.
An employment law firm, Peninsula, have moved to state that the average working week has now extended to 55 hours, with Managing Director Peter Bone adding, “It is important for staff to spend quality time away from the office, spending time with the family, or undertaking recreational activities rather than tapping away responding to client emails or deadlines so that they keep a healthy work/life balance.”
Mr. Bone also stated, “Employees should be encouraged to take appropriate rest breaks if they do choose to continue working out of hours. Having a well rested employee with a good work/life balance is a lot more useful than a tired employee that put one too many hours in the night before.”