Band 6+: A trend in current times is the need for many workers to spend time outside of company hours answering text and e-mail messages for their jobs. What problems does this cause for the worker? What can be done to reduce the impact of these problems?

The trend of digitalisation has emerged drastically, especially in the last few decades. Tech-savvy devices are handy for most of the people nowadays. The main advantage of rising technology if for the corporate sector, as the companies now expect more and more availability of their employees, including post their working hours. This has proven to be negatively impactful for the workers, which we will be discussing in this essay.

As we can see, the enterprises now expect their employees to be available outside their working hours, including weekends, to answer the queries of the office management and clients as well. Their expectations from the subordinates, to reply back immediately is becoming very distressful for the people. Everyone wants to go home after a long day at work, spend some time with near and dear ones, and more importantly rejuvenate from the stress of the work. By spending personal time on the official calls and mails, people stay stressful throughout the day, which impacts their physical and mental health. For instance, a survey was conducted at Google, where people were asked how working extra hours is impacting their health. The results were astonishing, as approximately 95% of the employees were unhappy and faced issues like increasing blood pressure, hypertension, etc. This was ultimately impacting their relationships with family members as well.

However, this can be altered and the issues can be reduced by either fixing the working hours or making them completely flexible. Another important aspect is that the companies should become more considerate towards people working in their offices. Another addition that can be done is completely switching to work-from-home model. This was the workers can stay connected with their families and work simultaneously, ultimately keeping them contented. For instance, companies like Indeed have opted for complete work-from-home business model for employees, making their employees happy.

To conclude, we can say that, working outside office hours is not a solution for the enterprises to increase the productivity. In fact it can reduce the work efficiency of the employees, impacting the work. The seniors should be empathetic towards their juniors and should not demand their availability post working hours. This can be proved to be beneficial not just for the workers but the companies as well.