No off switch

Does Volkswagen's rule about preventing employees accessing their work email after hours go against human nature?

Most vacations these days seem to be working holidays, where employees take their office with them in the form of a laptop, tablet or smartphone. In a recent poll conducted in Britain by Ipsos and Accor Hotel’s Pullman brand, 90 per cent of respondents admitted to checking or sending business emails, while away from work.

As The National reported yesterday, some companies don’t approve. Volkswagen turns off some of its employees’ email 30 minutes after their shift ends – on the grounds that “successful employees must be able to escape from work”.

Yet we have to wonder, are they fighting a lost cause? Large numbers of people actually seem to relish receiving work-related emails when they’re not actually at work. Just check out any coffee shop or pool-side lounge area and look at all those fingers busily tapping away. Not all are zapping off tweets or Facebook updates; many are working because they quite enjoy it away from the office.

Conversely, other employers are worried that too many staff waste time on social sites when they’re in the office. So maybe there’s a quid pro quo to be had here: just let people work and play as they see fit... As long as the job gets done, of course.