Digital Exhaustion at Work: The HRM Cost of Always-On Cultures

Abstract

Digital technologies are quickly being adopted in the workplace and have changed the way organizations communicate, collaborate and do business. While these advances have fostered greater flexibility and connectivity, they have also ushered in an “always on” mentality of work: that an employee is “on duty” all the time to respond to emails, messages, virtual meetings and can be reached on their mobile device. This study explores the effects of digital exhaustion and what it means for Human Resource Management (HRM) practices in today's organizations. In this paper the implications of continued digital interaction are explored including mental fatigue, emotional stress, reduced job satisfaction and increased employee burn-out. The study reviews the following literature: workplace well-being, technostress, employee engagement, and digital work environments, to consider the costs of technostress to the organization. The results suggest that longer periods of working with the digital environment have a negative impact on employee resilience, concentration, work-life balance and psychological health in general. The results lead to absenteeism, loss of productivity, less organization commitment and higher employee turnover. Additionally, HRM policies and programs for digital wellbeing, flexible communication strategies, and employee assistance programs (EAP) are all highlighted as ways to tackle digital exhaustion. Overall, the paper suggests that introducing sustainable digital workplaces will require a balance between technology and employee wellbeing. It argues that a productivity-driven strategy for digital is no longer enough and an organization needs a people-centric approach to managing workers. Human resource professionals can help prevent digital exhaustion by making it an organizational problem – and this can have long-term consequences for employees' health, their engagement and their overall organizational performance. The study contributes to and adds to the discussion on the phenomenon of digital well-being by presenting a hidden HRM cost of the culture of always-on working behaviour and providing ideas for future research and policy.