NEARLY THREE-QUARTERS of all Irish workers who have access to e-mail continue to work at home, a new survey has found.
Nearly 90 per cent of those surveyed said they checked e-mail at home because they did not have enough time to complete their job.
The survey was carried out by employment law firm Peninsula Ireland, which questioned 1,255 people.
Two-thirds of respondents admitted that they were so stressed over work that they had trouble sleeping at night.
Peninsula Ireland managing director Alan Price recommended that people dedicate an hour a day to answering e-mails to reduce the need to take work home.
He also suggested that employees working at home should raise the issue with their employers and look for reduced hours or overtime payments.
“If you are not getting paid to work from home, then you need to snap out of office mode,” Mr Price said.
“An employee voluntarily sending [a couple of] e-mails while watching the television or out having a meal can easily escalate into [them spending] a couple of hours, or even the equivalent of a whole working day, over a period of time.”
He said a balanced lifestyle was vital to a successful life and that employees who spent an excessive amount of time working from home risked fatigue in the long term.
“At the time, putting in work ‘after hours’ can seem like a great idea and on the odd occasion it can prove beneficial.
“However, if this becomes a regular occurrence, it can have an knock-on effect on employees’ performance in the office.
“Having a balanced lifestyle is paramount [if you are to have] a successful life and working [all those] extra hours will only lead to demotivation in the end, which will affect the employees’ quality of output in the workplace.”
