Aussie workers set 9-5 rule on work emails save

FATIGUED Australian workers are switching off, literally.

Sick of getting emails from their bosses at 2am, fewer workers are using their tech devices to catch up on work outside of the office, new research has revealed.

Fewer workers are checking their email at home. HR company Northgate Arinso found only 38 per cent of Aussies checked their work emails out of hours, down 8 per cent from last year’s survey.

Work calls are also a no-no, with only 24 per cent of Aussies calling it in, down 12 per cent from the previous year.

Working from home was of little consolation to most Australians, only 37 per cent of respondents saying technology enabled them to work from home, compared to last year’s findings of 52 per cent.

As technology continues to blur work and home life, worker’s health and wellbeing are being put at risk, managing director of NorthgateArinso, David Page said.

“There is a small but increasing number of bosses who recognise the online fatigue from being always available as a growing issue.”

Some companies such as BlackBerry enforce “turn off” policies, switching off workers’ email after hours.

“Steps like this underline to employees that the business takes this 24 / 7 demand on their attention seriously,” Mr Page said.

Is work technology intruding too much into your home life? Answer yes to more than one question below, you should seriously consider switching off your smartphone or tablet and shoving it in a drawer.

Ten symptoms that suggest work technology is intruding too much into your home life

1. You check your smartphone for emails as one of the last things you do before going to sleep, and one of the first when you wake up
2. Your first conversation of the day is via Twitter
3. You feel the need to take your laptop or iPad and/or smartphone on holidays, just in case work needs you
4. You feel obligated to respond to work emails outside of work hours, especially those from international colleagues in other time zones
5. You expect your work colleagues to answer emails out of business hours, because that’s what you do
6. You turn your smartphone to vibrate - never off - so that you can check messages on the quiet when you really should be ‘off duty’ like at the cinema or out with the family
7. Your iPad is used mainly for reading work-related articles late at night
8. You’ve not had a face-to-face discussion with any of your 500+ contacts on LinkedIn for months
9 .Your work contacts on Facebook and Skype outnumber your friends and family contacts
10. You’re the FourSquare mayor of your office.