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 Put your hands up if you keep these three things separate, or with the growing use of smartphone’s, ipad’s etc. Are you always switched on?
The latest Ofcom research summarised that over a quarter of adults now own a smartphone and there has been a dramatic increase in people accessing the internet from their phones also. Specifically 21% of adults in Scotland now have a smartphone, and 21% of adults access the internet, a 6% rise over the last year.
Research has shown that even when we are watching TV we can’t help but check work emails, or log on to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, 22% of adults even admitted using or answering their smartphone while in the bathroom.
And now with the holiday season well under way results from a survey conducted by Origin Storage to 1000 office workers in the City of London have shown a massive 73% of workers will check in with the office whilst on holiday. Is this getting beyond the ridiculous or do most people class this as the ‘norm’ these days?
Surely all this new technology should be about making life easier for businesses and their workers; and the ethos should be about doing more with less, and being more efficient in working hours because we do have access to multiple resources.
We can pick up emails when we are sitting in traffic, work on a long train journey as though we were sitting at our desk thanks to VPNs and mobile broadband. But sitting at the poolside with a good book in one hand and mobile in the other taking a call from our boss? Is this not blurring the boundaries of the work / life balance too far?
Surely the whole point of a holiday is so you can get away from the daily grind, relax, enjoy some family time so when you do go back to you work you are refreshed, motivated and raring to go. Would this not more beneficial to the company and the employee.
Yet a CEO who was interviewed in Origin Storage survey openly said “I absolutely expect to contact my staff when on holiday. If they don’t want a job then there are thousands who do.“
Therefore are we turning into a nation of workaholics frightened for our jobs or is there too much expectation in the workplace to constantly be available and in work mode.
I would love to hear your thoughts, do you work whilst on holiday or are you manger / business owner that expects it? And what technology do you use on holiday – smartphones, laptops, tablets?
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