Remembering we all need downtime

Tony Hallet writes an interesting feature on how "Advances in mobile and wireless technology can please employers by leading to improved productivity but are too many staff unwisely working longer hours, the victims of 'connectivity creep?"

This is something that has concerned me for the last few months, as someone who runs a small consultancy I am aware that clients buy into what we do not just because of price bvut also because of speed of responce. People work for me rather than large firms because I do not want them to be in the office all day and night. However I am coming across a number of intelligent people who have allowed themselves to be dictated to by the firms email system via their Blackberry.

I do not think that a smart device is a smart idea! Giving somebody something that allows them to work anyplace anytime is not a responsible act. What is needed is for everyone to respect the time and space of those who the interact with. The most effective people I work with use technology as a tool rather than always reply to every email, text message, voicemail as soon as they receive them evem when it annoys me that it is so.

I would be interested to see if its a cultural thing, with Italians and French executives not "suffering" the same connection issues as their English and American co-workers.