PT's do you check your email/ Blackberry on your days off?

**MissL2**

A couple of months ago I returned back to work from maternity leave. I have gone from working 37.5 hrs to 17.5. About a month ago we were given Blackberries. I find it really difficult not to check mine on my day off and occassionally reply. I hate being behind with work and not knowing what's going off so I choose to look.

My manager seems quite disapproving of this and tells me to turn it off on my days off. I only ever contact internal contacts not clients so I'm not confusing anyone. I can't see what the problem is. I have know idea why she's as she is... it's as if she doesn't like me being so organised???

Does anyone else do this or have any idea why she doesn't like me doing it???

Lx

b-b-b

It's probably to do with company policy, something in your employment contract that says employees are not to remote into work computers, emails on days off, or never, etc. something like that it.

It'll be some sort of confidential policy protecting the company obviously your manager is taking it quite serious and trying to enforce it at any length.

Just beware if you've been warned leave it alone, you don't want to walk back into a disciplinarily because files have been remotely removed or something.

**MissL2**

No it's nothing to do with that as I often get email from her sent at the weekend!!! We are all based from home anyway so our networks are designed for it. She says he wants me to spend my time off with DD which is lovely of her but I've said when she's sleeping or at her grandma's then I like to check.

Horace

At weekends and your day off you are on your own time and why should you give that up for work? If she emails you then ask her to stop - there is no need for the boss to email you to tell you to have a nice weekend. If you are working in your own time then you are a fool (sorry to be blunt), time is money and if you are working then you should be paid for it. At the moment you are working for free so look at the employer's point of view "oh she'll always work on her high days and holidays for free so why should we pay her for the rest of the time?" Sounds harsh but its true. Plus, if you keep looking and even worse answering emails then it will start to make you ill because all you will think about is work. My boss used to email me in the middle of the night and expect a response:mad: I couldn't get away from the twonk and he made me quite ill because I had no rest from work.

**MissL2**

I suppose because I've just gone back I feel quite motivated. I'm also finding that my reduced hours are the cause of a few problems (arranging meetings) so I guess I'm trying to compensate. My OH says that's their problem but I don't want them to feel that I'm taking the ****

Horace

**MissL2** wrote: »

I suppose because I've just gone back I feel quite motivated. I'm also finding that my reduced hours are the cause of a few problems (arranging meetings) so I guess I'm trying to compensate. My OH says that's their problem but I don't want them to feel that I'm taking the ****

Legally you are entitled to a break. Don't try and compensate because you are on reduced hours by working for free - if arranging meetings is difficult then so be it, tell your boss that that's the problem but don't ever work for free. You are not taking the p if you are on holiday or on your weekend break - they have to get used to you not being there or being at the end of the blackberry. Switch it off. Learn to say NO! Don't be a doormat for your employer.

Zazen999

She absolutely HAS to tell you that. If you were off sick with stress she has to show that she has shown a duty of care to you.

If you must insist on reading them, delete if not needed and bookmark for action the others for when you get back. Then you can just concentrate on the important ones when you are working.

Pee

I think it depends very much on the job. I would say that if the firm give you a blackberry, you might be a reasonably senior member of staff and you might be needed for imput etc, My Head of Dept works part-time, but being a Head of Dept, she is pretty much contactable at any time. Obviously we wouldn't take the p by contacting her too much, but sometimes it is important either to keep her in the loop about something or ask for her opinion. She takes the view that being Head of Dept means she gets paid a little bit extra to take into account that extra work.

On the other hand, if you are told not to, then it could become disciplinary.

surreysaver

Another issue is if some people start working in their own time, then it may become expected of everyone. So do yourself and everyone else a favour - stop doing it!

surreysaver

Pee wrote: »

I would say that if the firm give you a blackberry, you might be a reasonably senior member of staff

Not necessarily. It is very common now, even for staff that are chained to a desk to be issued with them!

crackerberry

Personally I'd say you had a very good manager...for noticing and remarking about your email use outside of working time...though methinks she needs to follow her own advice if she's doing the same as you.

You can set the Blackberry so that it switches itself on and off automatically at certain times of the day, I never could resist checking mine whenever I passed the thing, regardless of the time of night or over weekends, so I set it so it switched off midway through an evening till 7am and remained off at weekends etc. It works - it stops you looking!

The principal reason for issuing employees with Blackberries is to enable them to recover "dead time" - dead time" during the course of the working day that is and not to enable employees to in effect be on call 24 x 7 x 365 days a year. Instead of that wasted time spent travelling or when inbetween meetings etc etc it enables people to respond more quickly and utilise their time better during their working day so as to avoid or reduce hours worked over and above their contracted working hours. Since they've done it whilst out and about they aren't in theory then having to spend an hour or more once they get home catching up with their emails etc. Hence the Blackberry has work/life balance benefits for the employee too.

If you're finding it difficult to manage your work(load) now you're on reduced hours then I would discuss it with your manager - expore any tasks that could be taken away and dealt with by someone else or review the hours you're working and perhaps suggest you increase them slightly to a level you're happy with - you're working them anyway so you may as well be officially working them and being paid for them too.

Your employer has a duty of care towards its employees and should be alert to any behaviour/activities which may increase or cause an employee high or higher levels of stress. Were you to go sick for example with stress at any point in the future and cited workload etc then you'd find your employer then would be not too sympathetic because they had told you long before that point to stop doing it.

They can actually cut off the Blackberry remotely for you during times when they know you're away from work if they choose to so too. Too much work for managers to notify IT every time to do that...or even thought about it in the first place... but they can enforce you not to use the thing when you're not at work if they wished to.