What is „work without end”?

„Constantly at work”, or Work without end, is a state that many employees feel nowadays when they work remotely. The SARS-COV-2 virus pandemic has contributed to the fact that more and more people are unable to establish the digital balance.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, employers (not only in Poland) had to face a new challenge – to ensure the continuity of work in conditions that were safe for employees. Therefore, the performance of official duties has been transferred to the so-called home office.

In Poland, this form has become very common. It is enough to look at the research conducted by CIOP-PIB in April 2020, which shows that remote work before the epidemic was performed by 7% of employees, while during the epidemic – 59%. In turn, according to GUS data, currently 9.7% of all employees in Poland are remote workers.

In a broader context, it looks similar: EU data shows that almost 40% of employees work remotely, and only 15% of them have performed this type of work before.

Adapting to the new changes was not easy, and it still is not. A new problem has emerged – the imbalance between work and private life. Research shows that the negative aspects of remote work are also:

  • the need to independently organize and plan the working day,
  • exposure to an excess of digital information (including: videoconferences, e-mails, business phones, social media, etc.).

All this can trigger the feeling of being „work without end”, and its consequence is – information overload, stimulation, overwhelming. All of this is often a source of tension and stress, referred to in the literature on the subject as cyber stress or technostress (or techno-stress).

Consequences of experiencing digital stress:

  • decrease in work efficiency,
  • reduction of job satisfaction,
  • disturbances in the sense of digital balance between work and personal life,
  • burnout,
  • sickness absence, conflicts and social isolation,
  • poor concentration, irritability, memory disorders.

In January 2021, the European Parliament issued a resolution that contains a series of guidelines and guidelines aimed at drawing attention to the problem of digital stress among employees and the „right to be offline”. This right should be understood as the right of employees not to engage in professional duties outside of working hours and not to participate in communication using digital tools such as e-mails, telephone calls and others.

Source:

CIOP-PIB

Region Gdański NSZZ „Solidarność”

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.

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