VW blocks work-related emails to give employees a break after hours

December 23, 2011 By Trevor Mogg

Following negotiations with unions, Volkswagen has agreed to stop sending work-related emails to some of its employees when they're not in the workplace. The move hopes to provide a better work/life balance for employees of Europe's biggest carmaker.

Of course, there may be some professions where it’s impossible to switch off the smartphone and forget about work. But if you think most of the out-of-hours work-related emails you receive really could wait till you’re back in the workplace, then you may be interested to know what Volkswagen has done in Germany.

In order to provide a better work/life balance for some of its employees, the carmaker has agreed to stop sending out emails from its BlackBerry servers once their shift has finished.

The arrangement means that Volkswagen employees based in Germany working under trade union negotiated contracts will no longer be bothered by work-related emails when they’re off-site. Smartphones belonging to senior management will, however, continue to flash or buzz whenever a work-related message comes in, regardless of whether they’re relaxing in the bath or asleep in bed.

The system has been set up so that the company’s servers stop sending emails 30 minutes after an employee finishes work. Emails can be sent from the servers again 30 minutes before a worker’s shift starts. Of course, employees can still use their smartphones in the normal way when they’re not at work.

Many have long argued that being in touch with work the whole time increases stress levels and in the long term adversely affects productivity levels.

“It’s bad for the individual worker’s performance being online and available 24-7,” said Will Hutton, chair of the UK-based Big Innovation Centre. “You do need downtime, you do need periods in which you can actually reflect on something without needing instantaneously to give a reaction.”

He added, “It has a poor impact on an individual’s well-being. I think that one has to patrol quite carefully the borderline between work and non-work.”

If you’re in a job where out-of-hours emails are the norm, what percentage of them do you think could wait till you’re back in the workplace?

[Source: BBC]

Showing 9 comments

Adey Jarvis at 1:06am 25th December 2011 VW obviously don't innovate across timezones.
Ian Bell at 10:40am 24th December 2011 Good PR for VW :)It's probably not a bad idea to set a rule moving forward for them. Then suppliers and others they work with will probably just get in the habit of not contact VW employees during this time of year. Plus it gives their employees true piece of mind right? Not bad for their overall culture!
Ernest Ong at 11:14am 24th December 2011 Goood.. indeed for work life balance
Dale Chun at 7:27am 24th December 2011 Bad idea. I would then come to work and sort through the piles of email before I do any real work. I would rather handle emails sitting on the toilet than wonder if I got that very important email.
1. Dem Moussouros at 5:08am 24th December 2011 I guess it depends on what you're dealing with. In my own experience and that of many friends, the e-mail umbilical that exists outside work hours proved to be a negative thing for ones mental well being as you were literally never free of your work ties, however productive it may have been. You can always take your inbox home with you and scour through it, but I think the modus operandi of VW is to not create any new work for their employees outside work hours, through new mails.
Tobi Annette Bet at 6:38am 24th December 2011 It is a change in culture and a fantastic show of support from management. Well done VW!
James Phillips at 6:28am 24th December 2011 Meh, if you don't want to be bothered by the emails then don't read them or turn the alerts off for that account. What are these people, babies?
Muhammad Farooq at 6:11am 24th December 2011 Excellent - others need to follow this!
David Henry Quan at 6:10am 24th December 2011 good idea