Vacation disconnection: a new chimera

Fernando, an international raw material trader for a multinational company, is currently clear on this issue “the horizon of the workday is blurringHe knows that his location allows him to work where he wants and with a certain amount of flexibility. This flexibility only meant an average of one hour of connection per day during the last vacation period.

Fernando, on the other hand, sees obvious advantages such as efficiency in incorporating these technological devices, while affecting the duration and intensity of the day. This concentration is manifested, first of all, in communications in the workplace: “Answers in seconds, we are accustomed to immediacy“.

Guided use of these devices and their apps is required, but this is not always the norm. That’s why psychologist Mónica Ortiz, who faces our holidays challenge adleave our electronic devices at home so they can’t spoil a walk on the beach or a family dinner. Although we’re starting slowly, we can start setting up firewalls based on some tricks like using the schedule option to power cycle the phone when available, because “If the phone does not turn off, it is quite difficult to establish this connection.“.

This is explained in our own automatisms, which in many cases lead us almost instinctively to participate in received notifications. Also a culture overworkedalive as always. Our society still celebrates commitment to work, and therefore overwork, as a positive quality.

According to a report published March 8 by the UGT Studies Service from the Active Population Survey (EPA), the average weekly number of overtime hours for men reached 3.5 million in 2020; Women recorded an average of 2.5 million overtime hours per week. The EPA’s latest data for the second quarter of 2022 also shows: almost half of overtime hours are not paid in spain.

From his experience, Fernando believes that this investment of time and attention that an employee makes outside of working hours is sometimes voluntary: “It sounds bad, but… every addiction is an escape, sometimes used to give meaning to our mood”.

In this context, psychologist Estefanía López emphasizes the importance of “first and foremost moving away from the prevailing model of productivity.” To do this, a break is necessary, which can be made taking advantage of the holiday period. “This important to save right to slow down, to get away from our agendas, our emails, our over-organization. Getting up with no predetermined plan, improvising and enjoying this closed lack of organization is essential. First of all, move away from the model that prevailed throughout our productivity year.”

The cost of not disconnecting

Psychologist Mónica Ortiz warns that accumulated stress can cause long-term discomfort. On an emotional level, some decompensation can be produced. derive depression. The integration of these devices into our lives contributes to this overload. Mónica Ortiz had patients who came to her because of their inability to leave work, which was aggravated by the use of mobile devices.

Unable to break this connection, negative consequences in other areas of personal lifeas in the couple relationship and father-mother-son relationship.

It even affects the behavior of the individual in society negatively. “The problem is that we tend to normalize these sensations in society and perhaps we are unaware of the damage they do to health,” he says.

‘Combustion’

In 2019, the World Health Organization included burnout syndrome in the International Classification of Diseases. This nomenclature is used to refer to: physical and mental fatigue of the worker. WHO itself highlights the reduction in labor productivity as one of its three main features. It seems that the worker’s productivity is as urgent or relevant as his own health.

Ironically, a good portion of the warnings built around this mental, emotional and human fatigue It stems from companies’ fear of losing worker productivity. As if the investment in their health is justified in terms of productivity and image, not in itself. Mónica Ortiz denounces many companies’ pursuit of higher performance, which hides behind an investment in worker health.

There is a kind of realistic mindset that understands the need for give an incentive companies should stop burning their workers. The fact that we need such an incentive is probably part of the problem.

Fortunately today, workers in such a stalemate can turn to mindfulness, or, as professor and author Ronald Purser puts it, “new capitalist spirituality“. They can also benefit from existing legislation.

Arrangement

The Organic Law on the Protection of Personal Data and the Assurance of Digital Rights of 5 December 2018 of 3/2018, referring to the use of devices in the workplace, mentions for the first time the following: right digital disconnect. This disconnect happens when the employee stops using any digital device or corporate software outside of working hours.

Despite the edit, the digital disconnect seems to move away rather than converge. In its explanatory memorandum, Law No. 10/2021 on telecommuting or teleworking, which deepens the right to digital disconnect in Article 18 of 9 July, warns that the explosion in telework poses a whole new problem: techno-stress, constant working hours, computer fatigue and permanent digital connectivity.