Always on

The expansion of the internet and mass adoption of digital communication devices contributed to a behavioral change in the world. Notebooks, smartphones, WI-FI and cloud applications, accelerated and proliferated instant communication. Companies, in search of growth, adopted these technologies to increase the productivity and decrease the response time.

The graphs show the adoption of notebooks vs desktops, providing mobility to users.

The proportion of notebooks to desktops increases over the years. We are adding mobility to the workforce.

The number of smartphones in the world grew 10 times between 2008 and 2015.

The adoption of digital communication devices provides flexibility and allows employees to be always on. Intrinsically, this is one of the reasons for the use of these technologies. Flexibility is beneficial for employees, as it allows better balance of demands of life outside of work.

The concept of the “always on” culture describes a society that is super connected, through digital tools and means of communication, resulting in the individual's difficulty to disconnect. The incremental and definitive adoption of this form of communication, turned the idea of being connected from binary - connected vs disconnected - to the concept of connectivity (alertness, readiness, availability).

The emergence of digital communication technologies revolutionized work and organizational practices. The flexibility provided by technology, to work from anywhere and at any time, impacted work dynamics. The negative impacts of the “always on” culture is also embedded in these changes.

Estimates shows that by 2030 mental illnesses - Anxiety, depression and burn-out - will cost the global economy US $ 16 trillion, due to lost productivity and health insurance.

This phenomenon started in the 2000s, and since then, it haunts companies and governments. In 2017, France instituted a law on the right to disconnect. Following this same path, Italy and Ireland also established laws to address the issue. The European Union is discussing the introduction of this fundamental right to all countries in the region. Other countries, such as India, Canada, the Philippines, the USA, South Korea and Japan, are also evaluating the implementation of the right to disconnect law.

The laws in these countries, do not regulate specific measures that must be complied with but instead, are of a universal character. This was well accepted in the business environment, as it considers the needs of the business and employees.

The right to disconnect provides a better balance between work and personal life for employees and protects companies from legal processes for requesting overtime payments.

Some companies - concerned with cases of illnesses related to anxiety, burn out and depression - are taking measures to help employees disconnect from work, even if they are not present in countries where the right to disconnect law exists.

The measures range from non-restrictive collective actions to restrictive measures.

The responsibility for solving this problem rests with everyone. A set of actions that influences at the individual level (adoption and self-regulation), and to address at a collective level, e.g. awareness, training, support and measures by companies.

To address this problem, two conditions are fundamental:

• Formal practices, rights and duties of employees regarding the use of technologies and means of digital communication, and;
• Leadership must participate and adopt such measures

These two conditions must be in place to solve the problem. There is no point in formalizing the rights and duties of employees and not having the leadership engaged and acting. The same is - no point of having only a few leaders using good practices and no formalization of the rights and duties of employees.

 For many employees, work is not limited to the office, but anywhere he carries his notebook or smartphone, allowing him to remain connected to work always. The measure between the flexibility provided and the excessive use of these tools is the key to success.

I observed some practices that professionals adopted to help disconnect from work. Some examples are listed below:

• turn off notifications from apps
• do not send messages after regular working hours
• set deadlines for responding to messages
• notify subordinates of the urgency of the request

These are simple practices that could be adopted by everyone, but they are not. The Human Being, for the most part, does not have the capacity for self-regulation.

Self-regulation is our ability to resist temptation and calibrate our behavior to achieve our goals. It is an important psychological mechanism that dictates our behaviors at work and at home.

The demands for immediate response from the business make it difficult for the individual to adopt such measures. It is difficult, as technologies are increasingly present everywhere and the constant changes demand immediate business responses.

Many of us lack the ability to control the use of technologies. Several studies show that our relationship with technology and social media is very similar to the use of chemicals, in some cases causing addiction.

Companies need to support employees on this journey towards well-being. Leaving this problem to the employees alone, believing that they are all “adults” and know how to take care of themselves, is not a solution. The reality is that few knows the harm caused by the overuse of digital devices and the effects of the “always on” culture.