Knowledge The power of technology has increased and so has the ability for it to enable work to occupy our personal time and space. This has led to increased stress and risks of burnout.
Technology has shaped a new way of working. While many employees have been offered more flexibility as a result of mandatory lockdowns, our reliance on technology to bridge physical and social distances has on one hand enabled people to have space from their physical workplace and on the other allowed the lines of where and when they work to blur.
In this article, we look at the interrelation between technology, flexibility and potential burnout. We also discuss who is responsible for addressing burnout and offer some tips for setting the tone for a new way of working.
A new way of working
It was not all that long ago that when you left the office for the day that was it. Work was over. You pushed the button on the lift or shut the door and you were not able to be contacted outside of the office. The invention of the smart phone in the late 2000s and the introduction of the internet in our homes changed that. There has been a change in expectation of accessibility and availability. People no longer switch off for the weekend or ‘have to wait till 8.30am’ for an answer. The power of technology has increased and so has the ability for it to enable work to occupy our personal time and space. This has led to increased stress and risks of burnout.
Technology has allowed us to stay connected through virtual meetings and promoted a paperless way of working. It has also made work-life separation (whether physical or psychological) more difficult, particularly with more people working from home. It was not that long ago that flexible work was seen as a privilege, only offered to those who had proved themselves. Now flexible work is an expectation of many employees for a variety of reasons, this may be because they:
- Are more productive in different environments;
- Want time to undertake deep thinking work in a quieter environment;
- Are trying to limit their commute;
- Are managing commitments outside of the workplace.
With this comes a culture of being accessible 24/7. Managers are becoming reliant on technology to have oversight of their teams, and in response, employees feel pressure to demonstrate they are working, by constantly appearing “online” and available.
The ability to work from anywhere at any time has led to workloads (and expectations) becoming unmanageable, leading to exhaustion. This is when burnout can flourish.
The key thing to remember is that if your employees are working from home, their home is an extension of the workplace and the same employment law rights and obligations will apply.
Whose responsibility is it to tackle burnout?
Under New Zealand’s health and safety legislation, responsibility for workplace safety (which covers both physical and psychological harm) starts from the top and those in senior positions should be consulting and coordinating with workers at all levels.
While employers have the ultimate responsibility to minimise or eliminate harm so far as reasonably practicable, legal obligations exist to varying degrees across all levels. Senior managers, middle managers and employees alike have a range of obligations.
Employees should raise concerns with their manager if they feel that work is permeating into their personal lives. Employers and managers should be proactively identifying risks.
The key thing to remember is that if your employees are working from home, their home is an extension of the workplace and the same employment law rights and obligations will apply.
Some simple check-in questions to assess risk
- Are you repeatedly receiving emails from a member of your team outside of their usual work hours?
- Have you asked your team how they enjoy working (remotely, in the office, a combination of the two)?
- Have you had a conversation with members of your team about whether they feel they are required to be ‘always available’?
- What process does your team have to switch off?
- Do your team put out of office replies on and yet still respond to emails?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions or have not checked in with your team about some of these behaviours recently, it might be time for a conversation – or it might be a good time to look at your technology and flexible work policies.
Contact the Black Door Law team for advice around options for responding to workplace burnout, updating your policies or any other health and safety matters.