One of our local employers was on the front page of the Monadnock Ledger last week regarding a $400,000 settlement with OSHA for worker safety violations. Ouch! They not only have to pay the fines, but they also must take corrective actions & improve the safety of their workplaces for all of their employees. They have agreed to get a full time safety &...
No Cell Phones, No Laptop: the New Ideal
Submitted by Health Forum on Mon 10/31/11 9:46 am
When did cell phones and laptops become an excuse to never go off duty? The phrase "work/life balance" used to point toward all those workaholics and Type A personalities who believed the office would distintegrate unless they spent evenings and weekends there. Now it refers to our inability to disconnect from cell phone and laptop.
The boss is calling, the client is emailing, we have to answer.
I used to work in a company where every so often an employee would simply disappear. Days and weeks would pass and the employee would be located off on a farm in Idaho or deep in the Siberian countryside (I'm not making this up), anywhere far from the demands of a nonstop, fiercely demanding job.
The costs to the company--never mind the employee--were very high, from the delays caused by missing staff to the whole process of recruiting a replacement.
No matter how much we love our jobs, we all need to get away. So from now on, take the after-hours pledge: No cell phone, no laptop. And as for all you managers and business owners: Let your employees go. They'll return refreshed and re-energized and re-dedicated.
Or prepare to lose them in Siberia.
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