偶尔关掉智能手机也无妨

    每周7天、每天24小时开机是不是太过分了？现在有些公司正在鼓励员工减少对智能手机和电子邮件的依赖。没人能否认，这些工具的确能够帮我们与同事和客户保持联系，但过度依赖智能手机也可能导致疲惫以及生产力下降。

    山姆•查普曼是芝加哥的人力资源公司Empower Public Relations的首席执行官。他的公司有25名员工。早在2007年，查普曼就发现，他的员工们认为，每周7天、每天24小时都得保持手机开机。于是查普曼决定为员工们解开智能手机的束缚。因此他制定了一个《黑莓手机管制政策》，规定公司员工在工作日的下午6点到早上6点之间以及周末全天不准接工作电话、回复工作邮件。查普曼称，公司很快戒掉了下班后仍过度依赖智能手机的习惯——除非出现那种“一年只有一次的紧急状况”。

    查普曼认为，他的公司之所以蓬勃发展，部分原因就是由于员工队伍始终精力充沛，而不是负担过重，精力不济。他说：“员工在工作的时候很专心。下了班后也能好好休息，恢复精神。”

    当查普曼与家人外出吃饭时，有时他能感觉到口袋里的黑莓手机在振动，好像在固执地要求他接听。“现在我把一切都关掉了，这对我的家庭和我的心理都有好处。”

    查普曼表示，客户们也针对该公司的新政策做出了调整。大多数客户认为这种做法是健康的，现在除非迫不得已，他们也不会在下班时间打扰查普曼的员工。

    公司的新政还提高了员工的忠诚度。过去几年里，该公司平均每年只流失一个员工。但在几年前，在该公司的员工还不到10个人的时候，每年的员工跳槽率高达近50%。查普曼还说，有些有才能的员工之所以到他的公司应聘，就是希望摆脱每周7天、每天24小时不能关机之苦。

    “零邮件计划”

    法国的Atos公司是一家全球IT服务和咨询提供商，在42个国家拥有7万多名员工。2011年2月，该公司CEO蒂埃里•布雷顿宣布了一项为期三年的“零邮件计划”。虽然取了这样一个名字，但这项计划的初衷并不是要彻底消除电子邮件，只是打算显著降低电子邮件的使用。公司规定，只有在与客户进行重要沟通，或是需要存档，或是出于法律原因需要使用电子邮件时，方可使用电子邮件。其它情况下，员工们可以采取更传统的方式进行沟通，比如打电话或面对面交谈。

    Atos零邮件计划的全球主任罗伯特•肖表示，公司认为“邮件已经遭到了滥用。员工的效率正在下降，因为他们花了太多工作时间关注电子邮件的收件箱。”分析了公司的邮件使用情况后，Atos公司认为，90%的电子邮件不会导致与生产力有关的结果，真正能解决问题的邮件只有10%。

    公司现在正在训练员工使用其它的替代性沟通方法，比如群组即时通讯工具等。公司还有一个内部程序，可以批准或否决诸如公务出差等事项。罗伯特•肖还表示，公司还鼓励员工回到“大家喜爱的面对面交谈”。许多Atos公司的客户也很想听到这个三年计划的成果。因为这些客户也认为自己的员工花在邮件上的时间太多了。

    Has 24/7 access gone too far? A small but growing number of companies are encouraging their staff to take time off from their BlackBerrys and smartphones or reduce their dependence on email. No one disputes that these gadgets help staffers stay connected to coworkers and clients, but constant connection can lead to exhaustion and a decrease in productivity.

    Seeing that his staff felt that they needed to be accessible 24/7 seven days a week back in 2007, Sam Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations, a 25-employee Chicago-based PR firm, cut the smartphone cord. He established a BlackBerry Blackout Policy, which prohibited the company's staff from answering calls or emails from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays and from Friday night to Monday morning. Empower went cold turkey on electronic gadgets after work except for the "once a year emergency," he said.

    Chapman says that his agency is thriving and attributes some of its success to having an energized staff, not an overburdened one. "When staff is at work, they're focused. When they're off, they take a break and recover," he said.

    When Chapman was out to dinner with his family, he could feel the BlackBerry vibrating in his jacket pocket, insisting to be answered. "Now I turn everything off. It's good for my family and my psyche," he said.

    Clients have adjusted to not being able to reach Empower's staff after working hours. Most consider the break healthy and only try to reach staff if a legitimate emergency arises, said Chapman.

    Moreover, the move has boosted retention. Empower PR has lost one person annually over the last few years. By comparison, several years ago, back when the firm had 10 or fewer employees, it was losing 50% of its staff every year. Chapman also says he now can recruit talented workers who seek a break from 24/7 availability.

    Cutting out email

    In February 2011, Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, a French global IT services and consulting company with 70,000 employees in 42 countries, announced a three-year "zero email program." Despite the lofty name, the project isn't aiming to eliminate email, but drastically reduce its use. Email will only be used at Atos for vital customer communication and where it's required for documentation or legal reasons, but staffers are otherwise expected to communicate the old-fashioned way, by telephone or in person.

    Robert Shaw, global director of the company's zero email program, said Atos believes that "email has become overused. People are losing productivity because they're spending so much of their working time focusing on their inbox." Atos analyzed email use at the company and determined that 90% of emails didn't lead to a productive result and only 10% reached resolution.

    The company's employees are being trained to use alternative methods such as group instant messaging and workflow, an internal process which allows for approval/rejection items such as travel authorization. They are also being encouraged to return to what Shaw calls "a cherished practice of talking to each other face to face." Moreover, many of Atos' clients are eager to hear the results of its three-year project. They think their staff is spending too much time on email too, Shaw notes.