Reply to post: Re: Not office hours? No contact

This always-on culture we're in is awful. How do we stop it? Oh, sorry, hold on – just had another notification

SImon Hobson Bronze badge

Re: Not office hours? No contact

It really is that easy for a lot of people

And therein lies the problem. In a similar way to zero-hours contracts aren't a problem for a lot of people, there are those - usually more vulnerable - for whom it is a real problem.

For example, as the article points out, for some there is a real worry over job security. So if you are in a position where you suspect that next week/month/year there will be an announcement of redundancies - you want to do all you can not to be one of the ones selected.

So, for example, you'll want to be known as one who will step up and sort out the boss's presentation for tomorrow morning. Never mind that he could have asked you for the figures last week, you daren't tell him that when he asks you for them at 8pm the evening before the presentation. If you turn off and don't get the email, leaving the boss without the figures he didn't ask for in a timely manner, then you get labelled as a shirker and will be head of the queue when the axe is wielded. Doesn't matter that the boss is a useless idiot - he's still your boss and will be deciding who stays and who goes.

As the article mentions, there are employers - Amazon being on (in)famous example - who do expect more of their employees than most consider reasonable. But people work for them and you might ask why ? It comes down to that basic need to have a roof over your head and food on the table - so if the choice is working for someone like Amazon or never switching off the work email, or starving on a park bench, then you'll put up with whatever bad practices get thrown at you. If there weren't more people looking for jobs than there are jobs going, then such practices would stop - simple supply and demand would ensure that "rubbish employers" wouldn't get people to work for them. But that's not the situation, and post covid ((UK perspective) various government support for businesses will be winding down over the next few months or so) it's only going to get worse.

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