With a Blackberry, Are You a 7/24 Employee?

Awhile ago, I had a discussion while playing golf with a high-tech executive, who checked his Blackberry throughout the round.

When I suggested that having a Blackberry tethered him to work all the time, he countered that having a Blackberry gave him the freedom to do things like attend his child’s school concerts because he wasn’t “away” from the office. It’s nice to think having a Blackberry gives you the freedom to do that but let’s not kid ourselves, even when you’re intently listening to a 10-year-old squawk out a tune on a trumpet, the Blackberry has the power to draw you away at any time.

In many ways, having a Blackberry has made a growing number of us 7/24 employees. People may not be at work all the time but they are working all the time given they’re connected to work. Unless you’re disciplined enough to shut off the Blackberry or put it in a drawer, it’s difficult to escape the red blinking light that indicates you’ve got mail.

The issue of the 7/24 Blackberry Employee came to the fore recently (although it attracted a fraction of the attention give to RIM introducing a flip phone Blackberry) when the Public Service Alliance, a union representing civil servants, said it plans to make Blackberrys part of its contract negotiations. Ed Cashman, an executive VP with the PSA, told the Globe and Mail:

“For some people, having a BlackBerry is like: We own you. You are our person, 24 hours, 7 days a week. Our members are running into situations where they’re not compensated properly for having to do work at home.”

Translation: People are using their Blackberrys to work during non-work hours so they should be compensated for it.

Putting aside unions have defined “working hours”, what does having a Blackberry mean for non-union employees? Does it means you’re expected to check your Blackberry on a regular basis throughout the day, night and weekends? Does it mean you have to respond to an e-mail? If you’re boss, who knows you have a Blackberry, sends you an e-mail on a Saturday morning, do you have to reply during the weekend or can you wait until you get back to work on Monday?

For an increasing number of people, work is no longer a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. proposition. With the Internet allowing you to be connected to work away from the office, being in the office isn’t as crucial as it used to be. Maybe this is why employers tolerate people surfing the Web, using Facebook, Twitter, eBay, booking trips, blogging, etc. when they’re at work because they know many employees work during “off-hours” at home by checking e-mail, reading and creating documents, spreadsheets, etc.

We’re living in a world where the lines between our work and personal lives are blurring with the Blackberry (and the iPhone) making this more of a reality.

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