Key Points
- The promise of work-from-home freedom is in fact delivering the opposite outcome, researchers say.
- Unnecessary and non-urgent after hours contact linked to elevated stress levels and depressive moods among employees.
- The results were relevant across industries from administration and finance to construction and plumbing.
Managers should let up on their constant barrage of out-of-hours contact with workers or risk their staff burning out.
Researchers from Australia, the US and Europe have found unnecessary and non-urgent contact after workers are supposed to have clocked off is causing elevated stress levels and depressive moods among employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to embrace working from home, bringing the undeniable perks of flexibility and reclaimed commuting time.
Downside of 'borderless workplaces'
But the ease of contact in a digitalised workplace is a double-edged sword, with the promise of work-from-home freedom in fact delivering the opposite outcome, according to RMIT researcher Mayowa Babalola.
"Borderless workplaces are giving managers 24/7 access to employees where constant connectivity with managers is an expectation rather than an option," he said.
"We found many are realising that the constant ping of (Microsoft) Teams and late-night emails are bringing work stress and depressive symptoms into their personal lives."
The collaborative international study, which involved Melbourne's RMIT among other institutions, surveyed nearly 900 Americans in blue- and white-collar jobs, finding the results were relevant across industries from administration and finance to construction and plumbing.
Right to not respond
Professor Babalola said the study showed managers must rein in their constant contact or risk their employees burning out.
"With more people working from home and more flexible hours, employers and employees need to introduce mechanisms and boundaries to cope with the intrusion of work into their home domains," he said.
Prof Babalola said one way for managers to avoid imposing this stress on their teams was to simply take the perspective of those they were sending messages to.
"This approach can be as simple as scheduling messages for the next day or making it very clear the receiver of the message is not expected to read or respond outside of their agreed work hours," he said.
The research team is also calling for corporate policies and laws to protect workers from out-of-hours contact and deter managers from contacting their employees at certain times.
The call is in line with a proposal earlier this week from the Greens to modify the Fair Work Act to give employees the "right to disconnect".
The party's proposed bill would prevent employers from contacting employees outside work hours and ensure workers are not required to monitor work communications when off-shift unless they are getting paid to do so.
