{"id":794,"date":"2017-04-03T06:00:41","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T06:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/?p=794"},"modified":"2017-03-27T14:52:32","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T14:52:32","slug":"mwr-is-it-possible-to-separate-work-and-leisure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/making-work-real\/2017\/04\/mwr-is-it-possible-to-separate-work-and-leisure\/","title":{"rendered":"MWR: Is It Possible to Separate Work and Leisure?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"University<\/a>
University of Southampton Business School student, Rebecca Killip, discusses whether it’s possible to separate work and leisure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s no secret that most employees strive for a more attractive work-life balance, but is this even possible any more, or do we now have no choice but to accept the reality of the work-life merge?<\/p>\n

Step onto any commuter train, and you will be met by the sight of hordes of workers glued to their phone or laptop screens, already checking emails or starting their work. With figures from the Office for National Statistics indicating that 3.7 million UK workers face a commute of 2 or more hours every weekday (BBC, 2016), the unsettling truth is that the typical 9-5-work day is likely to be unattainable for most. Ever since the introduction of smartphones, employees have essentially been able to work from anywhere. Workers have constant access to emails and the Internet on mobile devices, with a capability to access documents and computer programmes on laptops regardless of whether they are actually in the office. As per Dr Gail Kinman\u2019s suggestion, this shows that technology essentially encourages employees to be \u2018always on\u2019 (Bearne, 2016). This can have a decidedly negative impact; with reports finding that those who struggle to switch off from work have lower productivity and job satisfaction levels (Worral et al. <\/em>2016).<\/p>\n

In a move to try and promote a better work-life balance, Volkswagen in 2012 agreed to shut off worker\u2019s emails when they were not on shift following complaints that work and home lives were becoming blurred (BBC, 2012). Although this move would not be suitable for all companies, it is a model that perhaps others could adopt if seeking to improve worker satisfaction and combat the issues of a work-life imbalance.<\/p>\n

The idea of being able to work almost anywhere can also be cited as the leading factor in the rise of flexible working and working from home. In the UK, approximately a third of employees have flexibility over their working hours, and 1 in 5 work from home on occasion (Chung, 2016). In theory, this sounds like an attractive arrangement; allowing employees to work around their children and home life. In practise however it can be seen that this diminishes the possibility of worker\u2019s ever feeling as though they are truly clocked off from work. This reflects the concept of \u2018seeping\u2019, in that one\u2019s home life becomes merged with that of work (Cohen, 2016). It is this cross-over that has led to 40% of workers admitting that they are neglecting aspects of their lives due to work demands (Jeffries, 2014), ignoring advice to focus on being productive instead of busy (Ferriss, 2011).<\/p>\n

We could not have foreseen how technology would hinder rather than help us achieve a better mix of work and leisure, with Keynes predicting that technological advancements would allow the possibility of a 15-hour workweek (Keynes, 1930). The harsh truth however, is that the inability to switch off results in longer hours.\u00a0 Employees now strive to \u2018prove themselves\u2019 with no limits to expectations. As Orwell once said, \u2018freedom is slavery\u2019. (Orwell, 1949).<\/p>\n

Rebecca Killip studies Marketing at Southampton Business School. The views in this article are those of the author. This article is part of the ‘Making Our Work Real’ series.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that most employees strive for a more attractive work-life balance, but is this even possible any more, or do we now have no choice but to accept the reality of the work-life merge? Step onto any commuter train, and you will be met by the sight of hordes of workers glued to their phone or laptop screens, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99261,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1030568],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-making-work-real","column","threecol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/bscbusinessmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}