In the age of Digitized relations and transactions, I decided to opt-out from connecting my work emails to my phone, all while working for a Tech firm
One of the first few things we do upon joining an employer is, connecting work emails to our phones, because we are at the mercy of Tech advancements, check your emails while on go, during weekends and most importantly before and after sleep…
So, what triggered me to opt-out from work emails on my phone? As soon as I joined my current employer a little over year ago — one of the top 3 tech companies in the world, I could see the demanding nature of work through which accessing emails and answering them was one… although there are few more which I couldn’t drop off from…you know what I mean, late night meeting….!
So, I decided to see where would I end up in the race, if I didn’t have access to emails during weekends, late nights during family moments of BBQ or camping, not to mention how many of us sneak and check mails during our visits to toilets… It was hard initially, not because I was refraining myself from doing my best or the feeling of being missed, but the fact that I was afraid I was giving wrong signals to my peers, managers and third party network…
Yet, I must say the step which I took was a bold move (considering I am a growing phase of my career), however that also led me to turn back to my laptop in the times of need, meaning I was immobile to an extent. However, to catch up with the workload from the weekend, I aim to catch up with those emails first thing on the next workday, much earlier than my peers would and by the time usual business hours sets the pace, I’d have caught up almost 70–80% of my backlog if you must say so or sometimes even better I do have no emails to respond to…
So, it is after 400 days, I realize for a simple disconnect like opting out your work emails from your phone (which by the way is my personal and not business), we do not need to be hard on ourselves, feel guilty of any pleasures left behind, because in the end work will continue to happen, with or with out you. And if someone really needs you in times of emergency, during this disconnect phase, they will certainly reach out through WhatsApp or calls.
Opt-out for work emails — Yay or Nay is your choice, but I say it’s a Hiyaah because you get to focus on your little dreams which you once thought of…to begin with….
