Businesses must carefully monitor the amount of time workers use to complete business tasks outside business hours or risk an increase in the number of dissatisfied and stressed workers, according to a KPMG study.
The study of 608 employees defined fragmentation as using technology to complete work out of standard hours, such as using a computer on weekends as well as completing work while travelling, which includes reading documents while commuting and fitting work around family commitments.
The study found 20% of employees experience a moderate to high level of fragmentation on a regular basis and that there is a “sweet spot” of maximum benefit and negative impact for employees when managing a fragmented schedule.
“I think the over-arching message here is that a degree of flexibility and fragmentation work scheduling provides a level of enhanced satisfaction within jobs, but as that fragmentation continues a number of things happen,” KPMG IT advisory partner Ian Hancock told SmartCompany.
“People become less satisfied, the consequences of those activities become higher and then eventually it becomes detrimental,” Hancock says.
The survey found 67% of respondents are workers who prefers a standard number of hours and rarely work outside them.
But 14.6% have hours spread across the day and have the flexibility to fit other commitments in while 5.5% work in short bursts, with work tasks mixed with personal tasks.
In total 80% of employees experience some type of fragmentation and 20% say they experience moderate to high fragmentation.
The study shows fully blended workers made up 13% of respondents and they had little division between work and personal time, with 76% male, 81% under 35 and 92% working full-time.
Fragmentation is most prominent in the arts and recreation industries followed by agriculture, forestry/fishing, professional, scientific and technical services.
Hancock points out there are obvious benefits – 80% of fragmented workers believe they are making the best use of their time, 82% say they have time to relax and 77% believe they have sufficient time to exercise.
About 80% said they had time to manage their personal schedules and the study found they were “more likely to feel positive outcomes” than other workers.
Hancock says there is a “sweet spot” of fragmentation and businesses need to ensure the balance is met or productivity will decline, morale will fall and staff will begin to feel burned out, maybe even considering leaving.
“There is a strong correlation between the use of technology and the degree of fragmentation people are experiencing,” he says.
“The figures show that if you rely on profitable technology provided by work to complete work the more fragmented people become.”
The study shows that 33% of distributed schedulers say they have concern for their health, indicating that “there is a definite point at which fragmentation starts to push workers towards negative health consequences”.
Distributed schedulers say they have higher levels of stress and feel that work intrudes into personal time while 30% said that was the case compared to 29% of two worlds workers.
In addition 42% of people who frequently divide work schedules said it was difficult to set clear boundaries for themselves, compared to 23% of “two worlds” workers, who prefer set hours.
“There absolutely needs to be a balance in the way businesses go about doing this. Some of the benefits we’re hearing are great but there are very much pitfalls as well,” Hancock says.
The issue seems to be technology – the study shows people who frequently divide their work time have trouble switching off and have trouble keeping track of hours worked.
Hancock says the solution lies in providing clear cut policies for workers so they are not encouraged to work wherever and whenever they feel appropriate.
“We need to have clear policies around this activity. No doubt there are email policies in place but they don’t often tell you when email should be sent or how they should be used so they are most effective,” he says.
“Some schools are starting to do this with laptops, saying that they shouldn’t be used after a certain time and so on.”
The study comes as new figures from the Australian Council of Trade Unions show the number of temporary workers has grown from virtually zero in the early 1990s to about 400,000.
The ACTU says the rise is a concern but Hancock says using temporary workers is a good method of ensuring high morale.
“That correlation may well exist. There are stats that show the distributed scheduler is the type of person who will work part time or casual … they are those who have the highest correlation of fragmentation when it comes to flexibility and satisfaction,” Hancock says.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
