Scientific interpretation - Constantly connected, unable to disconnect: how to manage the use of technology to promote well-being at work

A Global-Watch scientific interpretation by

Pascale Cécire, PhD candidate in Work and Organizational Psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Context

While information and communications technologies (ICT) have made it possible to decide where and when to work, they also encourage people to work everywhere, all the time. Although this constant connectivity can provide greater autonomy and flexibility, it also makes it difficult for workers to "switch off," which can have a significant impact on their well-being. In a context of technological ubiquity, how can we mitigate the harmful effects of constant connectivity?

Did you know?

Countries such as France, Italy, and Spain have enacted laws regulating constant connectivity by protecting the right to disconnect. In Canada, Ontario remains the only province to have legislated on the subject. In Quebec, it is up to employers to decide whether or not to adopt a policy governing the professional use of ICTs and the right to disconnect. 

What do we mean by...?

Information and communications technology (ICT)

Encompasses both technological communication devices (e.g., smartphones, computers, televisions, tablets, etc.) and related systems or applications (e.g., texting, calls, social media, etc.). 

Constant connectivity

Refers to a state in which an employee is always connected to work, regardless of time or location, and remains permanently available to respond to work demands through the use of ICT (e.g., outside of working hours, checking notifications on platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Slack; checking, responding to, or sending work emails; accessing, reading, or working on company documents, etc.). Constant connectivity can cause work-related stress to be constantly present in the mind.

Psychological detachment

Refers to a state of mind characterized by the absence of work-related thoughts or activities during leisure time (e.g., not thinking about or working on work-related issues on weekends), accompanied by a feeling of psychological distance between the worker and their job (i.e., feeling "disconnected"). Psychological detachment helps to recover from work-related stress by allowing a temporary break from professional demands.

Managing boundaries between personal and professional life

Refers to the boundaries or "mental limits" that an individual sets between the different roles they play in their personal and professional lives (e.g., spouse, parent, colleague, supervisor, etc.) and the strategies or behaviours they use to manage them. How boundaries are managed may depend on the individual's preference for integrating or segmenting their different areas of life.

Integration preferences

Preference for aspects of personal and professional life to overlap (e.g., responding to text messages from a loved one during work hours).

Segmentation preferences

Preference for keeping personal and professional life separate (e.g., turning off work notifications during free time).

Managing boundaries according to one's preferences, whatever they may be, reduces stress and increases well-being at work.

What does a study reveal?

1. Constant connectivity reduces well-being because it hinders the ability to psychologically detach from work.
   It is through the reduction in psychological detachment that constant connectivity negatively affects well-being. Since the ability to detach psychologically is beneficial to well-being, but this ability is reduced by constant connectivity, such a state indirectly has a detrimental effect on well-being. 
2. The negative consequences of constant connectivity on well-being are the same for those who prefer segmentation as for those who prefer integration.
   One might expect that the negative consequences of constant connectivity on well-being would be less pronounced in people with a preference for integration (over segmentation), since this preference would, in theory, be easier to reconcile with more constant connectivity and less psychological detachment.