The work day is over, we can go home - but work follows us. In the evenings, at weekends, on vacation, it looms close by and is always ready to rush into our lives via cell phone, email or Zoom. Of course, these are the demands of today, but how does this constant inclusion and accessibility affect us?
A study on this topic was conducted by Jan Detmers and his colleagues at the University of Hamburg. They suggested that the lack of a clear separation between work and free time should have a negative impact on well-being, because constant stress prevents workers from recovering both physically and psychologically.
Participants in the study were employees who on some days because of work had to be all the time "in the zone of access," and on other days at leisure, they could fully belong to themselves. During the experiment, 132 people (most of them men) from 13 companies of different profiles, from IT to transportation, at the request of researchers every morning did a diary entry, describing their psychological state.
As it turned out, after a day when they had to be "in touch", they felt tired and tense
The most interesting thing was that this state of mind had nothing to do with the number of calls they received in their free time, their duration or the complexity of the issues under discussion. It seemed to be about something else: the anticipation of a possible call and the resulting feeling that they had lost control over their free time was practically "eating away" all the bonuses of relaxation.
In addition, cortisol levels were measured in 51 participants. This is a hormone that is a marker of stress. Its level rises sharply upon awakening, a kind of preparation for the stressful situations of the coming day. The higher the level, the greater the expectation of stress.
We measured it with saliva samples. Immediately after awakening, after 15 minutes and after half an hour, the participant had to chew a cotton ball and then place it in the fridge.
The results of the samples found that cortisol levels on awakening were higher in the morning after a day of being "in touch"
Earlier studies by American psychologists Yong Park, Charlotte Fritz and Steve Jacks have already shown that business contacts in their free time from work prevent a person to relax and disconnect from professional worries2. Now it turns out that even waiting for a "business" call during one's free time can increase stress. In fact, it would be incorrect to consider this time as non-working time, say the authors of the study.
In organizations that participated in the experiment of German psychologists, the days when the employee should be in touch were spelled out in the contract in advance. But there are many companies where such communication is not stipulated, but is implied as a matter of course. Their employees have an even harder time. The more work intrudes into their off-hours, the less they feel they are in charge of their own time.
However, it would be wrong to blame only new technology for this situation. The extent to which we can switch from work to rest depends largely on ourselves, emphasize Yonga Park and her co-authors. For example, they recommend inventing a ritual for the end of the work day, as well as setting clearer boundaries in communication with their colleagues.
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