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Why would you agree to have work communications on your phone in the first place? Assuming you work at a desk job (like a programmer), keep work-related items

by r3bl 7y ago

Why would you agree to have work communications on your phone in the first place? Assuming you work at a desk job (like a programmer), keep work-related items off of your phone. If your superiors complain, tell them you don't want to be responsible for leaking company secrets if you happen to lose your phone. If there's an emergency, your teammates could signal you that your help is necessary via SMS, and you can use a separate device to help them out. Don't sell your soul to your employer. I always establish this limit when starting a new position. My phone is for personal use only, and no work-related communication (business email, Slack etc.) would ever go near it.

Freak_NL 7y ago
This. Just open a browsertab with Slack (or MatterMost if you want a self-hosted alternative) when you're working on your laptop or desktop computer. Close it when you're done working. No one is asking you to be active on chat on your personal devices all the time.
dkersten 7y ago
I used to have work email and slack on my phone, but, yeah, I now only read work communications on my laptop, during work hours. If there's something urgent that needs to get to me after hours, they can call me instead. I don't work outside of work hours anymore unless its really urgent and I try to not think about work much outside of work hours. The rest of the time is my time, not theirs.
deanmoriarty 7y ago
Call me disfunctional or workaholic, but after I tried the strategy you are suggesting I wasn't happier at all. Specifically, I personally am able to keep my work stress level in balance just if I have all work communications (especially emails and slack) on my phone, so that I can take a quick look at what's happening even when I'm not working. This doesn't mean I actually end up working after hours: in fact, 99% of the times I just skim over the push notifications in a few seconds and go back to what I was doing. I found it to be much less stressful than having to wake up in the morning and see the massive burst of activity that happened between 5pm and 8am (especially if your team is distributed across different time zones like mine). And God forbid if I did that when I go on a 2 weeks vacation, I actually wouldn't be able to enjoy the vacation at all because I would always be thinking about the mayhem that's waiting for me on my return. If I am able to glance at the notifications a few times a day instead and occasionally reply on some really high priority stuff, it calms me down because I can get an idea of what has been happening. I'm not sure this is healthy, but I tried your strategy several times and it never worked for me, and this is also in different contexts (e.g. different teams and/or employers). It might also be because I have always held a position of tech lead/manager, so in general there is always a stream of people who are asking for my input on something (that being said, I heavily rely on delegation and people are fully responsible for their own decisions, but they just end up pinging me regardless because I have significant contexts about the projects).
- namanyayg 7y ago
  I'm a tech manager too and my experience mirrors yours. Most of the time I don't even have to reply, but some times a single message from me can help move things forward. Cannot imagine not being in touch via phone during vacation.
  - slfnflctd 7y ago
    'Taking a vacation' is, to me, something of an outdated concept. It usually boils down to a lot of stress and expense for a string of experiences-on-rails which don't meaningfully connect you to anyone or provide you with anything of lasting value. You're better off staying closer to home and making the most of your time off to bolster your relationships and living situation. I see zero problem with including some more relaxed interactions with your workplace in this. If you need to 'get away', for real, what you really need is a sabbatical, and to hand off all your work responsibilities to other people. Then you can unplug more fully and might actually stand a chance at finding true value and connections with other people in a more extended trip to a part of the world you've never visited.
    - chachachoney 7y ago
      >> It usually boils down to a lot of stress and expense for a string of experiences-on-rails which don't meaningfully connect you to anyone or provide you with anything of lasting value. That's how some people vacation. There's a whole host of meaningful activity that falls between vacation as product and a sabbatical.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      > don't meaningfully connect you to anyone Yeah, and they have some other advantages too. Disconnecting from people is half the reason I need a break in the first place.
      - namanyayg 7y ago
        Ahaha, in vacation mode I keep communication with most people around me zero. Only the closest the relationships & things that directly make me more money :)

by r3bl 7y ago

Freak_NL 7y ago

This. Just open a browsertab with Slack (or MatterMost if you want a self-hosted alternative) when you're working on your laptop or desktop computer. Close it when you're done working. No one is asking you to be active on chat on your personal devices all the time.

dkersten 7y ago

I used to have work email and slack on my phone, but, yeah, I now only read work communications on my laptop, during work hours. If there's something urgent that needs to get to me after hours, they can call me instead. I don't work outside of work hours anymore unless its really urgent and I try to not think about work much outside of work hours. The rest of the time is my time, not theirs.

deanmoriarty 7y ago

Call me disfunctional or workaholic, but after I tried the strategy you are suggesting I wasn't happier at all. Specifically, I personally am able to keep my work stress level in balance just if I have all work communications (especially emails and slack) on my phone, so that I can take a quick look at what's happening even when I'm not working. This doesn't mean I actually end up working after hours: in fact, 99% of the times I just skim over the push notifications in a few seconds and go back to what I was doing. I found it to be much less stressful than having to wake up in the morning and see the massive burst of activity that happened between 5pm and 8am (especially if your team is distributed across different time zones like mine). And God forbid if I did that when I go on a 2 weeks vacation, I actually wouldn't be able to enjoy the vacation at all because I would always be thinking about the mayhem that's waiting for me on my return. If I am able to glance at the notifications a few times a day instead and occasionally reply on some really high priority stuff, it calms me down because I can get an idea of what has been happening. I'm not sure this is healthy, but I tried your strategy several times and it never worked for me, and this is also in different contexts (e.g. different teams and/or employers). It might also be because I have always held a position of tech lead/manager, so in general there is always a stream of people who are asking for my input on something (that being said, I heavily rely on delegation and people are fully responsible for their own decisions, but they just end up pinging me regardless because I have significant contexts about the projects).

namanyayg 7y ago
I'm a tech manager too and my experience mirrors yours. Most of the time I don't even have to reply, but some times a single message from me can help move things forward. Cannot imagine not being in touch via phone during vacation.
- slfnflctd 7y ago
  'Taking a vacation' is, to me, something of an outdated concept. It usually boils down to a lot of stress and expense for a string of experiences-on-rails which don't meaningfully connect you to anyone or provide you with anything of lasting value. You're better off staying closer to home and making the most of your time off to bolster your relationships and living situation. I see zero problem with including some more relaxed interactions with your workplace in this. If you need to 'get away', for real, what you really need is a sabbatical, and to hand off all your work responsibilities to other people. Then you can unplug more fully and might actually stand a chance at finding true value and connections with other people in a more extended trip to a part of the world you've never visited.
  - chachachoney 7y ago
    >> It usually boils down to a lot of stress and expense for a string of experiences-on-rails which don't meaningfully connect you to anyone or provide you with anything of lasting value. That's how some people vacation. There's a whole host of meaningful activity that falls between vacation as product and a sabbatical.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    > don't meaningfully connect you to anyone Yeah, and they have some other advantages too. Disconnecting from people is half the reason I need a break in the first place.
    - namanyayg 7y ago
      Ahaha, in vacation mode I keep communication with most people around me zero. Only the closest the relationships & things that directly make me more money :)