You SHOULDN'T Check Emails After Work: Being Constantly 'Switched On' Causes Burnout, Study Warns

Why you SHOULDN'T check emails outside of work: Being constantly 'switched on' causes burnout and wrecks family life, study warns

• 24/7 access to email puts pressure on employees to remain in work mode
• Leading to a diminished work-family balance as people can't 'switch off'
• Study found stress was comparable to a high workload or work conflict
• France passed a labour reform law banning checking emails on weekend

Demanding bosses who expect employees to check their emails outside of work are causing exhaustion and damaging family life, a study has found.

Soaring numbers of workers are complaining of burnout because they are unable to disconnect from the stress of the office.

Rather than resenting the additional time working, being forced to stay alert is causing the stress, according to researchers.

It means rather than spending time unwinding once out of the office, people feel the need to be 'switched on' hours after they have officially clocked off.



Checking emails from home is leaving soaring numbers of workers suffering from stress and burn out as well as getting in the way of quality family time, a study has found

It comes after France passed a labour reform law earlier this year, banning the checking emails on weekends.

The new research, led by Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, suggests other countries might do well to follow suit for the sake of employee health and productivity.


Using data collected from 297 working adults, researchers looked at the role of organisational expectation regarding 'off' hour emailing.

They found it led to a diminished work-family balance - deemed essential for a person's health and well-being, they said.

The joint study, which also involved researchers from Virginia Tech and Colorado State University, claims to be the first to identify email-related expectations as a stress in itself.

It causes stress levels comparable to having a high workload, being in conflict at work, environment or time pressure.

Researchers said employers were effectively 'stealing resources' from people - by draining their energy outside their contracted hours of work.



The stress of having to be constantly 'switched on' is comparable to high workload, conflict at work and time pressure, a study found

'Organisational expectations can steal employee resources even when actual time is not required because employees cannot fully separate from work,' they wrote.

Previous studies have shown employees must be able to detach both mentally and physically from work to recover ready for the next day.

So with nearly everyone having 24/7 access to email and internet, technologies designed to help employees are actually doing more harm than good, the researchers suggest.

Labelling it 'anticipatory stress' - the study said being permanently on call leaves employees unable to detach and feel exhausted regardless of the time spent on after-hours emails.

They found the expectation does not have to be explicit or part of an organisation's policy - but rather just seen as 'the norm' or encouraged by management.

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