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The good news about today's technology - cell phones, laptops, pagers, and the rest - is that most people can do their work just about anytime, anywhere. The bad news is that many of these people end up working just about everytime, everywhere. The very same tools that enable mobility and free people from the bounds of the office can tether them to that office in ways they never expected and with consequences they and their employers or clients rarely expect.

All this hardware - and the software and telecommunications services that go with it - has, for the first time in history, let us separate what people do from where they do it. Today's knowledge workers no longer need to be in "the office" to do "office work." The office is more portable and more mobile than ever. In addition, many workers today have cloned their regular office by installing a desk, PC, fax, and phone in a spare room at home. Thus, even the home no longer provides an escape from the demands of the workplace.

We Gained - And We Lost

By making office work more portable, we have gained mobility and flexibility, but in the process lost the traditional separation between the work and non-work parts of the day and the week. This throws our lives out of balance - a balance that for many is all too fragile to begin with given the pace of today's lifestyles. Even the much-needed, long-awaited (and often-postponed) vacation doesn't guarantee rest and relaxation. The spouse of any laptop-toting, voice-mail-checking "vacationer" will attest to this.

In short, some people can never get away from the job. Though the endless workday may seem to help insure terrific customer service and responsiveness to the boss, there is a hidden and costly long-term price.

When you never get unplugged, you never get a break, disengage from the demands of the job, and have a chance to focus on the other aspects of life. If even a vacation doesn't provide a chance to completely leave the office, you never return to the office feeling refreshed and recharged, ready to tackle the work with new energy and a fresh perspective.

Recognizing The Problem Is The First Step

Slowly, awareness is growing about these problems that have crept up on us. The NEW YORK TIMES noted recently, "After a decade of piling on the responsibilities, a smattering of American companies like Hewlett-Packard are beginning to worry about the consequences. Concerns ranging from a lack of creativity to "burnout" - the point at which an employee becomes too tired to work effectively, or even at all - have emerged as among the most urgent topics at human resources forums."

"Unlike the last wave of corporate initiatives aimed at helping employees balance work with their personal lives - flexible hours, telecommuting, and concierge services - new programs aim for more than convenience. At their most ambitious they address the fundamental problem of how much time a job demands and how to build a life beyond work."

The technology that's supposed to - and does - provide freedom is actually a relentless leash that seems to be getting shorter and tighter for many people today. This problem has even captured the attention of the Federal government. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman issued the report "Futurework: Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century" on Labor Day 1999; here's an excerpt:

"Technology: the virtual office never closes - With e-mail, pagers, laptop computers, and mobile phones, work is no longer confined to one setting, it is pervasive. The virtual office never closes, opening the potential for abuse if employers require homework above and beyond the normal working hours. We need to make sure that workers use technology - not the other way around."

Why This Book Will Help

This is a book about regaining control, and in the process regaining (or, perhaps, finally obtaining) a sense of balance and equilibrium between the very real demands of today's business environment and our personal need to attend to the rest of our lives. It is not a neo-Luddite, anti-technology rant; the problem isn't with the technology but with how we've allowed ourselves to use it and become captive to it. The theme throughout is to build awareness about, and give solutions for, the creeping intrusion of the office and office work into the parts of our lives that most people would like to preserve for themselves and their families.

While readers may end up doing less work (as measured by the number of hours they are on the computer or the phone), the real goal is to help them do better work by being able to create some islands of quiet (or quieter) time in their days and weeks, so they can face the demands of the office with more energy and less resentment.

NOTE:
You can read an excerpt from Chapter 1 here.

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