The rise of telecommunications tools like email, online chat, and smart phones has meant that people can stay connected virtually wherever they are, at all times. While that interconnectedness can be a blessing in some situations, it has also led to a lot of stress and burnout among workers who feel like they can’t disconnect when it comes to work.
Trouble Disconnecting
Recent data from web tool review firm EmailTooltester helps flesh out this sentiment, based on survey responses from over 1,000 American adults. Here are some of the key data points:
- Four in five respondents (78.7%) have dreaded opening their work email inbox, with 58.5% admitting that they experience this negative emotion regularly.
- The average person spends two hours and 45 minutes on digital work communication every day.
- Three in four (73.6%) communicate with loved ones less because they are burned out by work communication.
- Seven in 10 (71.1%) feel expected to respond to emails out of hours
- Nearly all respondents (90.4%) thought a right-to-disconnect law would be beneficial.
The full report can be found here.
Demanding the Right to Disconnect
The last bullet item—over 90% of workers seeing a potential right-to-disconnect law as beneficial—is a telling statistic. It reveals that an overwhelming majority of American workers feel the pressure to stay connected is so strong that it would help to have government legislation to protect their work-life balance.
Several countries have actually implemented right-to-work legislation, as Rachel Treisman points out in an article for National Public Radio discussing the then-recent passage of a right-to-work law in Australia. “More than a dozen countries—mostly across Europe and South America—have enacted a version of the right to disconnect in recent years, starting with France in 2017,” Treisman writes. “Others are exploring various possible solutions to burnout, including the four-day workweek.”
Being Proactive, Without Mandates
Such legislation doesn’t seem to be on the immediate horizon in the U.S., however. But that doesn’t mean workers are completely without hope. In fact, this situation creates a potential opportunity for employers.
Those organizations that are willing and able to implement their own right-to-disconnect policies—such as a rule against sending emails after a certain time or on weekends—may have a leg up in attracting talent.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at Hr Daily Advisor.
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