Friday, March 29, 2024

Putting employees on a digital leash

In the country, employees are taken advantage of and treated unfairly, and their employers see them as their own personal assets. Their bosses treat them like slaves or robots. In our part of the world, people often call employees after work to ask for “missing” information.


They are digitally tethered even on weekends, holidays, and vacations, without regard for their mental and physical wellbeing. Employer intrusions impair work-life balance.


Except in emergencies, it’s unlawful in many nations to contact staff after office hours. An emergency at work is an unplanned event that affects employees, customers, or the general public, stops operations, or hurts people or the environment.


Sadist employers with a colonial mindset keep their employees on a digital leash after work, on weekends, and throughout vacations.


France, Germany, and Portugal ban corporations from contacting employees after work. Employees have the right to unplug after work. Employers who violate employees’ personal boundaries face punishment under local legislation. In Germany, it’s illegal to fire workers who miss after-work calls.


In countries like ours, where the colonial past is still apparent, employers or bosses behave like Orwellian Big Brother, running their offices as “nanny states.” Why not?


Under pressure and in a dangerous environment, employees always underperform. John Stuart Mill stated, “A state that dwarfs its men to make them more docile instruments will find that with small men, nothing great can be accomplished.”


Section 15 of OSHA, part of the US Department of Labor, requires companies to protect employee safety, health, and welfare. Health is defined as physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not just the absence of disease. Stress occurs when an employee’s demands surpass their ability to handle their obligations.


When employees get calls from the office after hours or get assignments they didn’t expect, it throws off their work-life balance and leads to tense nerves and burnout.


Several important research studies on the dynamics of corporate systems show that giving employees work to do and demanding work from them outside of office hours shows a lack of planning and seriousness on the part of management and administration.

Invading employees’ personal lives is unproductive for businesses.

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