If you have an employer who doesn’t respect down time then yeah, you have the metaphorical gun of poverty pointed at your head. Boss called you at 10:30 PM to fix the slides on the Henderson presentation but you didn’t answer because you were sleeping, your phone was in sleep mode and didn’t ring. George did answer and started working on it all night. George will be in the room when the presentation happens, you won’t be.
I hate that this is true, I wish I could disconnect from the office like my parents did but if I’m not available whenever my Boss wants me, it’s the unemployment line. It sucks, I hate it. It should be different, it should be illegal but this is reality and the reality is my Boss holds most of the power in our professional relationship.
If you are on call, that does not require you to do anything else on the phone, though. You could even have just a dummy phone, so they can still call and text you - most people do not have to work 24/7 on their smart phone (or computer for that matter). Not being constantly online does not have to mean you have to return to pre-modern times.
If you have an employer who doesn’t respect down time then yeah, you have the metaphorical gun of poverty pointed at your head. Boss called you at 10:30 PM to fix the slides on the Henderson presentation but you didn’t answer because you were sleeping, your phone was in sleep mode and didn’t ring. George did answer and started working on it all night. George will be in the room when the presentation happens, you won’t be.
I hate that this is true, I wish I could disconnect from the office like my parents did but if I’m not available whenever my Boss wants me, it’s the unemployment line. It sucks, I hate it. It should be different, it should be illegal but this is reality and the reality is my Boss holds most of the power in our professional relationship.
If you are on call, that does not require you to do anything else on the phone, though. You could even have just a dummy phone, so they can still call and text you - most people do not have to work 24/7 on their smart phone (or computer for that matter). Not being constantly online does not have to mean you have to return to pre-modern times.