Work-Home Balance Let\'s Reports Firing Line Question

Work-Home Balance

Let's reports firing line question work/home balance, perspectives. First,'s employers advised issues, a wide variety sources expressing glee opportunities opened technology employers -opt -increasing portions employees' lives: Lane, S. Business history and future plans letter

The work-home balance

Technology is both a benefit and a bane to employees and employers alike. From an employee perspective, technology enables telecommuting and reduces 'real world' commuting time. It permits parents to remain with their young children if necessary -- as well as for an employee to work in pajamas. Also, if there is a problem at work, the employee may be able to deal with it virtually, either from a home computer, or even using a Blackberry or Smartphone, rather than going into the office. The downside, however, is that because employees can check their email even while on vacation, employers may expect them to do so. The workday can become never-ending, as the fact that employees can be connected to work 24-7, the expectation arises that they should be constantly in contact with employers.

Employers, of course, like the ability to ensure that employees are always available if they are needed. However, the distractions of the Internet at work may mean that workers are surfing the net online rather than being productive. The fact that a new retail slogan -- Cyber-Monday -- has developed to describe the upsurge in purchasing the Monday after Thanksgiving at the office underlines the ubiquity of using work for personal business. An even more serious aspect of this phenomenon is how email exchanges between employees can lead to lawsuits, if flirting or inappropriate words are used. Unlike real life conversations, employees can easily engage in covert dialogue online while working, although this does have the 'upside' of leaving an electronic paper trail to confirm or disprove any allegations.

The ethics of what constitutes personal space online is itself murky when workers are given company computers for their own use at home. How much of an expectation of privacy exists online at work? Employers have a great deal of discretion under the law when monitoring employee interactions, including electronic surveillance to prevent inappropriate communications, the disclosure of secrets, and potential infractions.

There is no clear ethical solution to these problems, but at very least it seems reasonable for a worker to expect consistency from an employer. If an employer demands a strict divide between work and personal life by prohibiting all extraneous Internet use and heavily monitoring employee conduct online, it seems unreasonable and hypocritical to impinge upon employees' private spaces with work-related matters by barraging them with emails during what is supposed to be vacation or weekend time. Similarly, it seems questionable for workers to demand the right to use employee hardware for personal use, like shopping, and also to cry foul when employers monitor their Internet use, when they could converse or shop in private at home, on their own time. Workers must also respect the need of employers to protect trade secrets and understand that the devices they use to remain connected with their workplace are not solely being monitored because of employer paranoia or 'nosiness' but also because of legitimate trademark concerns.