Association between constant connectivity to work during leisure time and insomnia: does work engagement matter?

PURPOSE: The influx of communication media to contemporary workplaces has exposed workers to be always connected to their work. Constant connectivity to work (CCW) refers to the condition in which workers are always connected to work, even during their non-work hours, and are not detached from the work situation. We investigated the association between CCW and insomnia and the moderating effect of work engagement. METHODS: A total of 29,512 nationally representative samples of workers in Korea were used. Insomnia was assessed by the Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The additive interaction between CCW and low work engagement was estimated by calculating Relative Excess Risk due to Interaction (RERI). RESULTS: Exposure to CCW was related to insomnia (OR [95% CI] 1.33 [1.22-1.46]). Additionally, a significant negative interaction between CCW and work engagement was observed. The effects of CCW were mitigated in those with high work engagement. The OR of the combined effect of CCW exposure and low work engagement was 2.52 (95% CI 2.22-2.87). RERI between exposure to CCW and low work engagement was 0.69 (95% CI 0.38-0.99), indicating that there is a supra-additive interaction. CONCLUSION: Our study found that CCW is related to an increased risk of insomnia and that high work engagement can mitigate the effect of CCW. Our study suggests that improving work engagement and disconnecting from work outside of work hours can help protect employees' sleep quality.

O teletrabalho e o direito à desconexão no home office em tempos de pandemia / Teleworking and the right to disconnect in home office in pandemic times / Teleworking and the right to disconnect in home office in pandemic times

O presente artigo analisou o teletrabalho e o direito à desconexão no home office em tempos de pandemia. Por intermédio do método dedutivo, este trabalho teve como objetivos específicos a conceituação e a explanação do teletrabalho, em cotejo com o home office, sendo este espécie daquele. Abordou-se o direito à desconexão vinculado aos direitos da personalidade durante a pandemia de covid-19. Em complemento, analisou-se a inobservância do direito à desconexão derivada do excesso de trabalho e de cobranças pelo empregador, inclusive fora do expediente. Subsequentemente, enfatizou-se a linha tênue entre a cobrança e a cobrança excessiva pelo empregador, que inviabiliza o efetivo descanso do trabalhador. Ademais, examinou-se o dano existencial, que não somente implica ofensa aos direitos à saúde, ao lazer e à educação, como também prejudica ou priva o trabalhador do convívio familiar e social. Em conclusão, sublinhou-se o impacto do home office nos trabalhadores em relação ao direito de desconexão.

The present article has as its scope the analysis of teleworking and the right to disconnect in home office during pandemic times. Through a deductive method, it has as specific objectives the conceptualization and explanation of teleworking, in comparison with home office, being the latter a type of the former. It describes the right to disconnect, regarding personality rights during pandemic. In addition, it analyzes the non-observance of the right to disconnect derived from the excess of work and demands by the employer, including outside working hours. Subsequently, it emphasizes the fine line between demand and excessive demand by the employer, that makes unviable the effective rest to the worker. Furthermore, it examines existential damage, that not Only implies an offense to rights to health, leisure, and education, but also deprives the worker of family and social life or at least damages it. In conclusion, it underlines the impact of home office on workers regarding the right to disconnect.

Work e-mail after hours and off-job duration and their association with psychological detachment, actigraphic sleep, and saliva cortisol: A 1-month observational study for information technology employees.

OBJECTIVE: A sufficient duration of time off after work is necessary to ensure workers' health. Better quality of off-job time can also facilitate recovery from fatigue, but its quantitative influence is largely unknown. We aimed to examine how off-job time quality (as measured by the frequency of emailing after work), and off-job duration is associated with psychological detachment, actigraphic sleep, and saliva cortisol using a 1-month observational study. METHODS: The participants were 58 daytime employees working at an information technology company. Sleep actigraphy and saliva cortisol as well as self-reported outcomes were repeatedly measured for 1 month. Two-way (work e-mail frequency × off-job time) multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analyses were performed in both continuous and categorical variables. RESULTS: The frequency of work e-mailing after hours was significantly associated with self-reported outcomes and actigraphic sleep quality, while a significant association was not found in cortisol awakening responses and actigraphic sleep duration. A significantly larger cortisol response after awakening was found in shorter, rather than longer, durations of off-job time. Self-reported detachment, rumination and carry-over fatigue showed significant interactions between work e-mail and off-job time, suggesting that worse outcomes were found in a higher frequency of work e-mail even when employees had longer amounts of off-job time. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that ensuring the quality and duration of off-job time is beneficial for recovery from work with sufficient sleep. Specifically, the frequency of e-mailing after work should be minimized to make recovery complete.

Discourses on disconnectivity and the right to disconnect.

Taking the "right to disconnect" discussion as a starting point, this article considers how the im/possibility of "opting out" is ruminated in scholarly discourses on technology non-use, media resistance, and media disruption. I argue that while very different in scope, these discourses converge in that they all revolve around a structuring paradox. On one hand, this paradox is set in place by the paradox of dis/connectivity itself (no disconnectivity without connectivity). On the other hand, I argue, it is incited and reinforced by the use of scholarly methods that appear to be at odds with the gesture of disconnectivity itself, whether they be empirical, discursive, or technical (or legislative). This article stakes a claim for the importance looking at these discourses on dis/connectivity from the point of view of this structuring paradox, for it is here, I argue, that the limits of our current "culture of connectivity" are most forcefully negotiated.

[Communication technologies, time pressure and the right to disconnect]. / Technologies de la communication, pression temporelle et droit à la déconnexion.

Essential tools in the constant race against time endured by companies, communication technologies also bring with them a new time pressure, emergency situations and information overload which can lead to new types of disorders, stress and sometimes burnout. One of the ways to escape these negative consequences is to implement sustainable practices within the telecommunications environment, in particular through the creation of a time buffer zone and the opportunity to partially disconnect.