Sunday Night Blues
Over the years we’ve experienced our own fair share of ‘Sunday night blues’ (yes, there’s a recognised term for it). So, it’s little wonder that 62% of participants polled by Monster, the job search brand, stated that their Sunday blues were ‘really bad’.1
Today, the increased level of expectation, especially among executives2, that people need to be permanently on-call is creating a new set of very human challenges. These not only affect our ability to switch off but also contribute to increasing levels of stress and anxiety.3 A recent report by Ofcom shows that people in the UK now check their smartphones, ‘on average, every 12 minutes of the waking day’ while ‘one third of adults report they never turn off their smart phones’.4
It would therefore seem, that the idea of a perfect work/life balance still seems like a distant pipe dream for most.
Whilst it can be argued that technology has made our lives better and more connected by revolutionising our work and daily habits and creating amazing tools and resources, multi-functional devices like the smartwatch and the smartphone mean that tasks that once took days are now done instantly. All of which is contributing to enhanced feelings of ‘Technostress’5 a term coined by Craig Brod back in 1984.
When Emberson was formed, we wanted to use the inherent potential in technology to give us back control of our work/life balance (all our software, files and processing tools are cloud based). To hand back autonomy to each employee, by allowing them to work from wherever they feel most comfortable (we’re completely distributed with no centralised office). And finally, for people to feel invested in their own destiny (we’re 100% employee owned). This approach has led to a more relaxed and focused outlook to the week ahead. We pride ourselves on our ability to move with increased agility. To take things in our stride and pre-empt unforeseen situations arising before they have the chance to disrupt our slumber.
Next time you’re facing the Sunday night blues because of a dilemma at work, why not give us a call on Monday morning. As the saying goes ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ and we’re more than happy to help.
References:
1 www.monster.com/about/a/red-white-and-mostly-blue-monster-data-shows-that-the-us-continues-to-suffer-the-most-from-sunday-night-blues
2 www.cnbc.com/2019/05/31/workplace-stress-is-reaching-epidemic-levels-4-tips-to-keep-you-sane.html
3 www.knowledge.insead.edu/operations/the-human-cost-of-digital-technologies-4710#tJuqkR2WtEtFVfk0.99
4 www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/cmr/cmr-2018/interactive
5 Technostress: The Human Cost Of The Computer Revolution by Craig Brod