Flexible work schedule leads to stress and frequent illnesses

Working from home can do more harm than good, because employees never switch from work to rest. Flexible schedule makes employees always in touch, which is very difficult psychologically.

Work outside the office or part-time work keeps stress hormones at a constantly high level. A flexible schedule increases the risk that an employee will work in poor conditions, creates discontent among colleagues and blurs the boundaries between work and family life, which leads to stress.



The desire of British companies to improve the state of their employees through remote work, flexible hours, part-time work, unpaid leave to care for children, disconnection of mail accounts during off-hours, shorter working hours and other experiments led to risks of increased stress for employees. The border between work and personal life has become thinner, people are constantly checking mail, calling for work after hours. As soon as an employee is distracted by a work task, the level of stress rises.
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Experts note that if you constantly think about work, worry about it, your vital systems do not rest, and the level of stress hormones never drops to a basic level - and you cannot recover properly. You can sleep, but you do not sleep properly, so that the effectiveness of your immune system decreases, leading to diseases. According to surveys, in such situations, people are looking for quick ways to relax, drink alcohol or eat their favorite food. There is no time left for hobbies, physical activity and healthy eating.

President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Simon Wessely says: “We don’t know the reasons, but we already have evidence of a link between psychological circumstances at work and heart disease.”

One of the problems is the impact of new technologies that make remote work possible. A study of Ofcom, conducted in the summer of 2015, showed that, on average, adults spend more time using modern technology than sleeping. Gadgets allow you to work more intensively, spend more time and effort on business tasks, and simultaneously work on several projects. Research by Professor Gail Kinman showed that the number of people working during an illness is increasing. This phenomenon is called presenteeism.

Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, the largest professional organization for specialists in the field of HR and training and development, located in the UK, continues to defend flexible working hours, but recognizes that this practice only works if an employee has a choice. Scientific director of the organization Ksenia Zheltoukhova notes the second important factor - proper management.

The initiatives of employers, designed to strike a balance between personal life and the work of subordinates, do not save working couples from lack of time for domestic obligations and caring for each other. More than half of UK residents are satisfied with the balance between work and personal time, but more than a quarter of those surveyed by the National Statistical Service are not satisfied with it. The UK Labor Protection Authority found that for every one hundred workers there were 1.4 human diggers who experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety during the year. Some employers say that 97% of their employees are trying to fight for a balance between work and life. This leads to tension in the personnel system of the UK, combined with the instability of jobs.