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RE: The curse of the BlackBerry

Dominick-Murphy 31st Jul 2008

The point here is not whether the company expect out of hours work via the Blackberry or Remote Access, it is derivative of a working culture where people are judged not on their performance but by their availability.

People rightly or wrongly believe that they need to be available to their management at all time to be seen as going the extra mile and to be recognised, and to their team mates or staff to be perceived as a good colleague or manager.

It is true that a sad day has come when performance doesn't count towards your rewards but your ability to type (not even communicate effectively) has become a KPI.

I have implemented blackberry's into a variety of industry types and have always (and will continue to) set the corporate policy to be that the device will solely function as a mobile/cell phone (no live e-mail or access to corporate network) outside of the core business working hours, any amendment to this on an individual basis must be authorised by department head and staff member.

May not be much but hopefully will help in the struggle for all to have a reasonable work life balance...