30% of Employees in the US Feel the Need to Stay Connected 24/7

This survey by conferencing firm InterCall was covered in the New York Times yesterday. Among the other interesting findings were: that 25% of workers think their supervisors expect them to be online and connected after hours;  that 15% expect to attend at least one work-related call or web meeting during their next vacation; and 17% say that it is frowned upon if they don’t connect to work during their vacations.

I wonder what a similar survey would find in the UK. As for the requirement to be connected 24/7 being driven by bosses, my experience is that it is more multi-faceted than that. People I know that stay connected on holiday often say they do so as it is less stressful than wondering about the thousands of emails building up for their return. So the relationship between email and stress has become double-edged since people are often more stressed when on holiday and without access to email – hence, the rationalisation of tackling them before returning to work.

For me, the trend here is worrying – I doubt anybody achieves anything particularly impactful from their holiday. All they are doing is hindering their work-life balance and their resilience to stress with ultimate consequences for them, their familay and their employer.


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