Responsibility, Stress and the Right to Disconnect
In this series we will be exploring different causes of work-related stress and ways to improve your health and wellness.
Somehow, we have come to the point where the line between our professional and personal lives are blurred. The blurry line is causing work place fatigue and stress in all aspects of our lives. In February, Katie Gable posted a piece in Livable Buckhead concerning the higher workplace stress levels for women. Workers are starting to feel the “presenteeism” and 24/7 instantaneous access for company demands due to advancement in technology. Another stressor is the responsibility creep, an increasing phenomenon in which employers continually require employees to perform tasks that are outside of their role or agreed scope of their job. A survey, by Korn Ferry, asking about workplace stress and the impact it has caused reveled troubling data. More than 75% of the 2,000 professionals surveyed reported work stress negatively impacted their personal relationship and more than 75% lost sleep over work demands.
Work-life balance is promoted by companies to the point it appears disingenuous creating the elusive unicorn. While companies want the world to believe they are supporting employee work-life balance, they are bombarding employees with after hour emails, texts, and a workload that cannot realistically be done in the time allotted.
The new ‘always on’ culture is causing your brain to shrink in areas. Three things happen to your brain when you open an email or text from work after hours. First, your amygdala overreacts creating a threatening environment causing you to possibly read the communication as passive aggressive behavior by your employer. Second, the prefrontal cortex flips out prompting our rational decision making to become more emotional. Third, your actual hippocampus, the ever so important memory center, to shrink. Yes, you read that correct. It actually shrinks so next time you can’t find your phone and it’s in your hand you are experiencing the consequences of stress.
Good news, there are things you can do to improve your work-life balance. Being tethered to your company at all hours has become the norm and resisting this for your well-being will be hard. But it is a necessity for the health of the entire work force. Steps you can take to redefine boundaries include cutting down on screen time by using a screen time limit app, create a less tech-centered environment by closing screens during off work hours, and spend time alone in a quiet space reading or walking. If you find these things aren’t working, new legislation is in the works for your ‘right to disconnect’. The bills come with varying conditions depending on who initiates the policies. ‘Disconnecting From Work’ bills will make it illegal to require employees checking their work correspondence after hours if they need disconnect and decompressing time in their lives. Other countries are seeing a rise in these type laws to protect the workforce from advancing technology, reduce mental health and physical health issues, increase innovative productivity and creativity.
Check out the series exploring to workplace stress here.
Teresa Perkins is a climate change and sustainability journalist, who is creating research-based climate change content pertaining to sustainable energy at local, national, and global level for publication and distribution. She partners with non-profit organizations for innovative ideas and sustainability projects and connects global UN Climate Change reports to local initiatives.
