Checking work emails outside office hours annoys partners, study says

Smartphones do a wonderful job on boosting work productivity; however they may be disrupting people’s work and life balance. A recent study shows that over 35 per cent of people who own a smartphone check their work emails in their free time and end up annoying their other halves.

The study, conducted by YouGov on behalf of customer service provider Firstsource Solutions polled more than 2,000 British adults, and it reveals that one in every four smartphone owners aged 25 to 44 use their device to access emails once they have finished work.

Furthermore, one in 10 smartphone users check their work emails while on holiday, while one in six use read messages during weekends and on days off.

Men are more likely to annoy their female partners when checking their emails while away from the office, with 37% admitting their partners were annoyed, compared with the 28% of women.

This gives credence to an earlier study that claims employees who aren’t tied to the office put in more time on the job because of their attachment to their mobile devices.

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Smartphones have indeed become an indispensable part of every day work life but with people feeling the need to check their work emails regularly, even when not at work — it may not exactly be conducive to a healthy relationship.