This focuses on communications after hours but there's an even more egregious thing that impacts many who work on computer systems.
The companies decide the computer system must be up 24/7. Ok, fine. In the past things that needed to be running 24/7 were run by three shifts of workers. Companies could decide if the cost of 3 shifts was worth whatever value the system provided.
However, somehow with computers it's different. If there's a problem with a computer after hours the companies just call whoever was working during the day and expect them to fix it. Or they set up "on call" where you're explicitly expected to work all day and also all night.
They get away with this in the US because the meager workers rights laws in there (FMLA) explicitly exclude salaried computer workers from getting overtime[0]. So if you're a salaried computer worker and work all night because some system went down you're working for free and the companies love that because they don't have to do the calculation of whether having the system available is worth paying someone to watch it.
So take the stress from receiving an after hours email and multiply it by 100x because now you're not only expected to reply to the email but to drop everything and fix the computer.
This is also why companies that depend on computers need so many foreign workers living locally on temporary visas. They can be abused this way but can't fight back without risking losing their jobs and being deported.
Either IT workers need to unionize or the US needs to rewrite labor law to prevent this kind of abuse.
I also feel like a lot of companies and managers overestimate how important their services are. A lot of time it's about managers saving face or having a record to prove to the boss. When you're working on something stupid after hours merely because your boss told you it is down it is just maddening. It's a fire that no one cares about, but you have to put it out IMMEDIATELY.
Now sometimes you just need things to work, but at least set up a proper on call rotation, shifts, or whatever. But most people honestly don't need this.
I remember reading an article recently that Australia made requiring workers to be reachable off the clock is illegal. IMHO, every country needs every worker to be:
1. Compensated for on call time
2. Be paid for overtime (No "You're salaried so we expect 45+")
3. Have the right, as an employee, to not respond when not explicitly on call without fear of retaliation.
1 + 3 require better changes to employer decimation law. As is, even if you know you were fired for unjust reasons, it's VERY hard to win a lawsuit as an employee.
The companies decide the computer system must be up 24/7. Ok, fine. In the past things that needed to be running 24/7 were run by three shifts of workers. Companies could decide if the cost of 3 shifts was worth whatever value the system provided.
However, somehow with computers it's different. If there's a problem with a computer after hours the companies just call whoever was working during the day and expect them to fix it. Or they set up "on call" where you're explicitly expected to work all day and also all night.
They get away with this in the US because the meager workers rights laws in there (FMLA) explicitly exclude salaried computer workers from getting overtime[0]. So if you're a salaried computer worker and work all night because some system went down you're working for free and the companies love that because they don't have to do the calculation of whether having the system available is worth paying someone to watch it.
So take the stress from receiving an after hours email and multiply it by 100x because now you're not only expected to reply to the email but to drop everything and fix the computer.
This is also why companies that depend on computers need so many foreign workers living locally on temporary visas. They can be abused this way but can't fight back without risking losing their jobs and being deported.
Either IT workers need to unionize or the US needs to rewrite labor law to prevent this kind of abuse.
0: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17e-overtime-co...
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