Should enterprises encourage their employees to be available on company Social Media 24/7 on their smart devices?

There is no doubt that everybody with social media and new smart devices have gained a completely new world with a numerous possibilities for getting information and communication with who ever they want to get in contact with on any time in any geography. When you suddenly reach a level where you live and work 24/7 on your smart device getting tons of information and communication, from the Social Media private as well as business, will that give you as an individual a better work life balance,

and will you be more productive in your work?

Research has been published arguing that people who “take time off” from the social media and leave their smart devices disconnected at night feel more satisfied with their job, compared to people who stays on 24/7. A natural thing which happens when you are on 24/7 is that you believe that you should be able to answer all incoming “questions” private as well as business wise immediately. This creates a stress factor giving the individual the impression that he/she can not fulfill his/her duties private and business wise without always being connected. This feeling can lead to a decrease in working moral. Your costumers do not understand that you can not fulfill their demands and privately you will continue to not being able to absorb the information which you reach every day from your friends and the one you follow on the social media - a stress- full situation can occur.  The new Social World and the smart devices have managed to blur the boundaries between work and private life to make their work life balance out of balance.

Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow´s research in the phenomena of “how to break the 24/7 habit and change the way you work[1]”. Her conclusion is that enterprises need to help their employees to unplug. She gets to the point that employees have to work smarter not blindly faster. I am sure that Leslie Perlow are right in the way that we need to get time off from our work to be more productive, but the problem is that our working and private life are melting together due to the fact that we work and communicate privately with the same smart device 24/7. We have reached a situation where we as private and on work are living in the “fast lane” and since everyone is doing it, it’s considered acceptable we need to change the way we work and the way we act on the social media privately. As a trial talk to your family and agree to shutdown all your smart devices tonight – you may feel the benefits in the morning both on your work but also on the private front!

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[1] Sleeping with your Smartphone : How to break the 24/7 habit and change the way you work, publication date May 29, 2012