Always on: the take homes

Posted on | September 16, 2008 | 3 Comments


Last week I gave a paper in the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies’ regular Tuesday seminar series. It introduced a number of the themes emerging from two rounds of interviews for my research fellowship.

Presence bleed: Because a lot of previous studies of home-working focus on ‘teleworkers’ or ‘remote workers’ I introduced the term presence bleed to describe the impact of communication technology on ordinary office workers. Employees with or without flexible work arrangements are increasingly relying on home networks to keep in touch with work, whether or not this is compensated.

“Keeping sane” as mobilising imperative: A de-differentiation between home and work combines with a lack of interest in defining what “counts” as work such that traditional notions of working hours and labour claims become irrelevant. Recreational monitoring of work email at home creates the psychological comfort of being prepared and in control of one’s workload.

Email etiquette: Older workers are challenged to find an appropriate way to use email given earlier forms of workplace sociability and contact. Meanwhile younger workers use email conscientiously to perform professionalism, exacerbating the problem of unrealistic email turnaround times.

Screen-time trumps face-time: Workers tend to email colleagues rather than call or talk to them. It is seen as more efficient and saving time despite the level of complaint about how much email people are dealing with. Online platforms (e.g. delivering services through Blackboard, work blogs, wikis, SMS notifications, IM) add to the workload of many employees already struggling with email loads.

The catch-up day: Working mothers employed part-time regularly use days off and unpaid hours to catch up on work. They consistently see this as a personal preference rather than a management expectation.

Function creep: Whereas many employees may have had acceptable workloads to begin with, and the promise of flexible work arrangements to ensure balance, over time their roles have accumulated more expectations and responsibilities that aren’t being recognised. A lot of the additional demands stem from the need to provide services in more formats – to implement the so-called participatory and democratic revolution of “Web 2.0”.

Anticipatory labour: The sense that employees could be missing out on something, letting people down, or losing sight of the potential that something urgent might be waiting for them manifests as a persistent state of anticipation. This is the affective labour intrinsic to information work that both management and labour advocates must come to terms with.

I have a long version of the paper available and would welcome feedback while it’s under review. Let me know if you’d like a copy.

Category: Research, Work

Comments

3 Responses to “Always on: the take homes”

  1. b-
    September 16th, 2008 @ 2:16 pm

    would love a copy!

  2. Wendy
    September 16th, 2008 @ 6:35 pm

    I can definitely recognise many of the concepts you have outlined above and would be keen to read more if possible/appropriate.

  3. Kerryn
    September 22nd, 2008 @ 10:51 am

    Would love a copy of your paper, Melissa.

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