Bringing work home
20/06/12 05:34
There was another report released yesterday about the dangers of excessive use of electronic devices. This one was from the British Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. There is nothing particularly new in the report. It concludes that people need to learn to turn of electronic devices and take a break from constant connections.
Businesses, however, should like the devices. The data from the study suggests that nearly two-thirds of workers now report continuing to work outside of office hours. The average is more than two hours of extra screentime every day. That is a lot of unpaid labor. Of course there are a lot of things other than work that can keep someone riveted to a digital screen. There are games to play, relationships to pursue with social media, and entertainment available on the devices.
The report states, “While doing a bit of extra work at home may seem like a good short-term fix, if it becomes a regular part of your evening routine than it can lead to problems.” It goes on to say, “Excessive work levels are not good for anyone. Overworked employees are not only unlikely to be performing well at work, the stress an unmanageable workload causes is also likely to be making them ill. By the time someone is so overloaded they constantly feel the need to put in extra hours every night of the week at home, things have clearly got out of hand.”
The report goes on to detail physical problems caused by poor posture, primarily back and neck problems that have been connected with use of the device. I wondered if over use of the devices is also connected to a more sedentary lifestyle with less time devoted to healthy exercise. Perhaps some of the workers in the study would be just watching television if they weren’t engaged with their mobile computing devices.
I had the study on my mind last night as I spoke with a young adult member of our congregation who is spending his summer working concrete. It is a good job for a college student. There are reasonable wages, steady work, and the opportunity to engage in physical labor. And, the student reported to me, his evenings are his own. Workdays begin at 6 a.m. and often continue until 5 p.m. with a few breaks. He averages 10 hours of work a day and often gets in 5 days a week. I guess it is good work for a younger man because I know that if I were working concrete 50 hours a week, I’d be spending most of my off hours sleeping.
Of course a college student has less responsibility for yard care, family dynamics, household management and other tasks that are built into the lives of most other adults. The other advantage for the college student is the variety of his work. Nine months of the year his primary vocation is intellectual. He is reading and studying and preparing for his future vocation. For three months, his work is physical, outdoors and challenging. It is a nice balance. As I grow older, the attraction of a job that involves working just 9 months a year is more apparent to me. Of course, such a job would require careful planning about how to earn sufficient income to cover my expenses during the other three months each year.
I suspect that the problems of workers continuing to work at the end of regular hours has to do both with outside pressures and internal personality traits.
There are plenty of outside pressures on workers today. With unemployment high, workers know that there is no such thing as a secure job. Employers know that it is easy to replace a worker and workers are willing to put in extra effort in order to keep their jobs. A decreased workforce also demands more of individual workers. High productivity is expected and in some jobs the demand for increasing productivity is incessant. The more that is accomplished, the more is demanded. The current economy is not employee friendly in Europe or the Americas.
More complex, and more difficult to assess, however, are the personality traits that result in workers continuing to push themselves once they are outside of the office. Some of us just aren’t suited to hourly jobs. Our minds do not stop thinking about our work because of a certain hour on the clock. Our passion for the work we do doesn’t require a particular location. If you are going to pour concrete, you need to be at the right place at the right time and continue to work until the concrete is finished. If you are solving problems, sometimes a walk can stimulate creative thinking. I know I’ve had ideas and solutions to problems come to me while I was taking a shower or mowing the lawn.
The report is another sign that the commandment about taking a Sabbath is still an important rule for a successful life. The Bible reminds us that even God rests. Taking a break from the work of creating is part of the normal rhythm of such work. And the book of Exodus presents the commandments as the pathway to freedom. “If you want to be free people,” Moses states, “follow these rules.” Had he lived in our time, he might well have added, “Free people do not become enslaved to electronic devices. Take a break from your e-mail!”
Being a minister, I naturally downloaded the entire Bible onto my smartphone as soon as I obtained it. There are times when I’m reading or studying the bible with the screen in front of me. Like many other parts of my life, the distinction between working and not working is subtle. It is hard to know which activities constitute work and which are not work. If the concrete worker were reading his Bible on the job it would disrupt the workflow. If I am reading the Bible at work it is considered part of the job.
I have no idea whether or not it is “work” for me to be reading reports about the effects of over use of electronic devices. I did, however, read the report on a portable computer brought home from work.
The report states, “While doing a bit of extra work at home may seem like a good short-term fix, if it becomes a regular part of your evening routine than it can lead to problems.” It goes on to say, “Excessive work levels are not good for anyone. Overworked employees are not only unlikely to be performing well at work, the stress an unmanageable workload causes is also likely to be making them ill. By the time someone is so overloaded they constantly feel the need to put in extra hours every night of the week at home, things have clearly got out of hand.”
The report goes on to detail physical problems caused by poor posture, primarily back and neck problems that have been connected with use of the device. I wondered if over use of the devices is also connected to a more sedentary lifestyle with less time devoted to healthy exercise. Perhaps some of the workers in the study would be just watching television if they weren’t engaged with their mobile computing devices.
Of course a college student has less responsibility for yard care, family dynamics, household management and other tasks that are built into the lives of most other adults. The other advantage for the college student is the variety of his work. Nine months of the year his primary vocation is intellectual. He is reading and studying and preparing for his future vocation. For three months, his work is physical, outdoors and challenging. It is a nice balance. As I grow older, the attraction of a job that involves working just 9 months a year is more apparent to me. Of course, such a job would require careful planning about how to earn sufficient income to cover my expenses during the other three months each year.
I suspect that the problems of workers continuing to work at the end of regular hours has to do both with outside pressures and internal personality traits.
More complex, and more difficult to assess, however, are the personality traits that result in workers continuing to push themselves once they are outside of the office. Some of us just aren’t suited to hourly jobs. Our minds do not stop thinking about our work because of a certain hour on the clock. Our passion for the work we do doesn’t require a particular location. If you are going to pour concrete, you need to be at the right place at the right time and continue to work until the concrete is finished. If you are solving problems, sometimes a walk can stimulate creative thinking. I know I’ve had ideas and solutions to problems come to me while I was taking a shower or mowing the lawn.
The report is another sign that the commandment about taking a Sabbath is still an important rule for a successful life. The Bible reminds us that even God rests. Taking a break from the work of creating is part of the normal rhythm of such work. And the book of Exodus presents the commandments as the pathway to freedom. “If you want to be free people,” Moses states, “follow these rules.” Had he lived in our time, he might well have added, “Free people do not become enslaved to electronic devices. Take a break from your e-mail!”
I have no idea whether or not it is “work” for me to be reading reports about the effects of over use of electronic devices. I did, however, read the report on a portable computer brought home from work.