COMMENT
Creating an epidemic of BlackBerry dependency may serve short-term business interests. But the trouble is one day the addicts might just fight back, says the Naked CIO.
Although he's meant to be on holiday, Gordon Brown admits his BlackBerry will remain on as he wanders pensively along the North Sea shore at Southwold.
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Perhaps it's forgivable for a prime minister to feel the need to remain in constant touch with the office. But how many people do you know who have they holidays spoiled by work emails and calls?
Or more mundanely how many people do you know who check their BlackBerrys and email out of office hours?
That issue may not seem particularly problematic. But as the part of the organisation that usually owns these tools we are potentially sitting on a huge area of risk.
Contracts of employment never seem to include provisions about BlackBerrys and when a worker should or should not respond.
Increasingly workers are hooked and the CrackBerry habit is eating into personal time and creating an awkward imbalance in people's lives.
I'm no expert in contract or employment law but I am certain companies are implicitly encouraging if not requiring employees at all levels to work out of hours and to be responsible for responding to queries no matter where they are or what they are doing.
It takes only one disgruntled employee to find solid grounds to sue over this imposition for the whole fabric of our mobile working community to come tumbling down.
As CIOs, we must act to protect our organisations and our employees from what is becoming an epidemic.
Organisations must start to develop standards and guidelines for out-of-hours use of devices such as BlackBerrys and other remote working tools.
They must also explicitly state what is expected of employees who use these devices and whether their compensation includes out-of-hours access.
By ignoring the issue companies are increasing their liability to claims and sending mixed messages to employees who have a right to personal time outside work, free from interruption or distraction.
As a self-confessed BlackBerry obsessive, I cannot claim to have found the balance my friends and family deserve. But at least I find myself in this situation through personal choice. I'm not sure all staff would see it the same way.
Also, evaluating performance of staff is often partly based on attitude and commitment, which can be misinterpreted to mean accessibility. One employee might always be available while another chooses not to respond out of hours. Preferring one employee to the other on that basis is understandable but it is a dangerous precedent to set.
We must manage the convenience and mobility offered by modern tools responsibly, to make sure they are used appropriately. That responsibility includes establishing when not to use them.
Ignorance has never been an excuse for anything and cannot be used as an excuse for exploiting workers and their personal lives.
I have attended many symposiums on mobility and even spoken at a couple on this very issue over the past few years. Yet no company I know has created a policy on out-of-hours use of BlackBerrys.
As mobility becomes more advanced and services such as unified messaging and other technologies keep evolving, this issue will only become more pronounced.
As responsible CIOs we should address this question now. As an industry we should set out to define acceptable standards of conduct and use for BlackBerrys and other mobile email devices.
Comments
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1. anonymous
My company has a policy on out-of-hours use of blackberries. We only participate in them when they become black and juicy - about the end of September.
Seriously I decide my company will never have any BlackBerrys so use during or out of office hours does not enter the equation. When I leave the office I leave the office and I expect my colleagues to do exactly the same.
If someone wants to call me on my mobile I warn them that my minimum charge for this interruption is a half day, I will be the office within X hours and if they would like to leave it until then no one will suffer.
It only takes one half day fee to appear on my invoice and this silly habit of out of hours contact disappears. The BlackBerry is a visible status symbol to which people become addicted and then consider them indispensable - and they are not indispensable items at all. Try it for a few days and be delighted.
2. Brian
I think this is more of an issue than people realize. I tend to place most of the responsibility upon the worker themselves to mange their work/life balance.
But maybe, companies should take more responsibility in defining exactly what is expected of the job, and what they expect the worker to do with communications.
With connectivity becoming more ubiquitous every day, this problem is going to grow and grow.
I personally try to maintain a fairly strict line between work and home. I work when I am at work, and I do other things when I am at home.