Is BlackBerry Turning Business Users to Workaholics?

The ability to access corporate email and mobile web via smartphones is a useful feature to business professionals who are expected to be available when out of the office. However, their work-life balance has been significantly affected by the steady shift to mobile email access, according to a recent study by employment law firm Peninsula.

Peninsula conducted the survey with 600 white-collar workers who use a BlackBerry handset as their work mobiles. It reveals that these employees tend to work at home on a regular basis mainly replying to urgent emails. The results show that they are spending an average of 15 extra hours a week on work compared to their non-BlackBerry counterparts, underlining the growing problem of employees working long hours.

Designed as business-centric smartphones, BlackBerry devices such as BlackBerry Bold 9000, Storm 9530 and Tour 9630, allow users to check their corporate email accounts real time. With the push-delivery technology, the smartphone will instantly alert the user when messages are sent to any of the personal and business-based email addresses. And of course, not only BlackBerry, many other smartphones like iPhone and Palm Pre are also capable of this email functionality.

On one hand, this can help workers prepare for work by reading their emails in advance, and also allow them to reply to urgent correspondence when they are out of office. Nevertheless, it also means employees are always at the beck and call of the office at the expense of their personal life, which may in turn cause unhealthy work-life balance and low productivity during office hours.

Peninsula concluded that employers should encourage staff not to work at home unless necessary to avoid burnout. Even if they choose to use these devices, employers should limit the extent to which they do so. Also, employees who are required to work after hours should be compensated accordingly when it comes to salary negotiations. Meanwhile, smartphone users are responsible for maintaining their work-life balance, instead of letting the device dictate all their time.

Tags: BlackBerry Accessories, BlackBerry Tour 9630 Accessories, BlackBerry Storm 9530 Accessories, BlackBerry Bold (9000) Accessories, BlackBerry Curve (Curve 8520) Accessories, iPhone Accessories, Palm Pre Accessories