Checking work emails after hours can harm health

Washington: Turns out, employer expectations of work email monitoring during non- working hours are harmful to the health of not only employees but their family as well. William Becker, a Virginia Tech professor in the Pamplin College of Business, conducted a new study, “Killing me softly: electronic communications monitoring and employee and significant-other well- being,” which showed that such expectations result in anxiety, which adversely affects the health of employees and their families. The study revealed that employees don’t have to spend actual time on work in their off- hours to experience the detrimental effects. Just the expectations of availability increase strain for employees and others even without the actual engagement of the employees in work during non- work hours. Becker said, “The insidious impact of ‘ always on’ organisational culture is often unaccounted for or disguised as a benefit - increased convenience, for example, or higher autonomy and control over worklife boundaries.” Becker’s research interests also include work emotion, turnover, organisational neuroscience, and leadership. Few other studies have shown that the pressure of increased job demands leads to tension in family relationships when the employee is unable to fulfil non- work roles at home. According to Becker, policies that decrease expectations to monitor electronic communication outside of work would be ideal. — ANI