The great disconnect
A Taipei Times article last week caused this habitual 24/7-minded employer/employee a bit of concern (“Employers reminded of the ‘right to disconnect,’” April 28, page 3).
Granted, employees have an absolute right to “me time,” during which they are neither required nor expected to conduct their daily business activities.
However, we should be careful about creating too great of a “disconnect desert.”
In my earlier roles as a department director for various organizations, I encountered situations that truly required immediate communication with my staff members.
This was so that they could be prepared, upon arriving at work the next day, to immediately and intelligently address, and (hopefully) resolve, a potential problem.
I absolutely did not expect my coworkers to spend the rest of their evening developing a solution — just be prepared the next morning to do so.
Yes, the “right to disconnect” is crucial to employee satisfaction, but commitment to the job is also vital.
Kirk Hazlett
Tampa, Florida
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