Conventional logic would dictate that spending less time at the office would improve one’s work / life balance. Unfortunately, according to a survey conducted by Virgin Media Business, in a country where nearly three-quarters of us are wired in by our mobile devices few of us believe we’re truly able to escape the office.
According to the provider’s stark findings, over half of workers believe that blanket connectivity would result in shorter working hours – yet only 10% of those spoken to felt that this would translate to a better relationship between their work and home lives. It seems that nearly half of us believe that increased connectivity would assist us in dealing with unexpected emergencies but only a meagre 16% feel that modern technology would allow us to work from home more often.
So if increased connectivity increases our productivity, why aren’t we able to spend more time engaging with our home lives? Essentially, it seems to come down to our ability to switch off when the time comes. Whilst 24 hour access may help us stay on top of all our work, it is also blurring the boundary between home and work more than ever before and means we find it difficult ever to really separate from the office.
Virgin maintains the key is getting the balance right; if an important email comes in or there is an emergency, then deal with it. If not learn to unplug and unwind. This, however, (especially for CrackBerry fans) may be easier said than done…
