Work Emails May Be Taking a Toll on Your Mental Health — And Your Relationship

Responding to a late-night email might win you points with your boss, but it won’t do you any favors at home, a new study suggests. Being expected to monitor work emails 24/7 may take a toll on the mental health and well-being of both employees and their partners, according to research published recently in Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. Researchers surveyed 142 people who were employed full-time, as well as their significant others, about their organizations’ expectations around electronic communications. The couples also answered questions about their health, well-being and relationship satisfaction. About 100 of these individuals’ managers also answered survey questions, adding to conclusions about organizational expectations. Individuals who said they felt an obligation to check professional emails outside of traditional work hours also tended to report higher levels of anxiety and lower measures of well-being and relationships satisfaction, the researchers found. This effect seemed to be true regardless of how much time individuals actually spent on their work accounts, suggesting that the mere expectation of being online was enough to take a toll. What’s more, the effect didn’t stop at employees. The partners of people who were expected to be online around the clock also reported decreased well-being, health and relationship satisfaction, pointing to a “spillover effect” resulting from the behavior, the study say...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthytime Mental Health/Psychology onetime Source Type: news