August 25, 2006 at 16:07The employer will be held responsible for technologic employees.
If an employer gives laptops, handheld computers, mobile phones or pagers to their employees, they may have to be responsible for technical dependency among employees.
Although such trials have not yet been, but they are quite possible. At least among American lawyers this problem is already being seriously discussed . The fact is that courts in the USA very often take the side of wage earners in the event of such conflicts with the employer.
Management professor Gayle Porter from the Rutger University of New Jersey Business School and colleagues prepared a research paper on the subject. She believes that technologic employees may well sue their employers who put them on the needle of technology dependence. For example, some employers require that the employee is always in touch and can be called at any time by mobile phone. Because of this, naturally, a person’s personal life suffers, therefore, a person has the right to demand compensation for damage.
According to Professor Porter, many people do not notice a decrease in the quality of their life until a certain moment when life becomes unbearable: continuous phone calls, communication on the Internet do not leave a person a moment of peace. Then a person wonders: how did I get to such a life, who is to blame for the emergence of technical dependence? And they find the answer: this is the employing company.
Indeed, American companies very often give their employees personal laptops or pagers with BlackBerry feedback that they do not part with. Of course, this increases the efficiency of employees, but as it turned out, it threatens with lawsuits for the employer. The scientific work of Professor Porter with colleagues will be published in the academic press in the very near future. It describes cases when technologics lose control of their own lives and cannot break away from communication channels. In some respects, technologism can have a more devastating effect on humans than, for example, alcoholism.
Until now, many employers have chosen not to notice that employees are becoming addicted to technology, and have also denied harm to the personal lives of employees. After the advent of scientific work that confirms the existence of such harm, the situation may change. It is likely that the first lawsuits will appear in the very near future. Perhaps in the future, “technological” employers will be required to carry out special preventive procedures to prevent technological dependence.
Although such trials have not yet been, but they are quite possible. At least among American lawyers this problem is already being seriously discussed . The fact is that courts in the USA very often take the side of wage earners in the event of such conflicts with the employer.
Management professor Gayle Porter from the Rutger University of New Jersey Business School and colleagues prepared a research paper on the subject. She believes that technologic employees may well sue their employers who put them on the needle of technology dependence. For example, some employers require that the employee is always in touch and can be called at any time by mobile phone. Because of this, naturally, a person’s personal life suffers, therefore, a person has the right to demand compensation for damage.
According to Professor Porter, many people do not notice a decrease in the quality of their life until a certain moment when life becomes unbearable: continuous phone calls, communication on the Internet do not leave a person a moment of peace. Then a person wonders: how did I get to such a life, who is to blame for the emergence of technical dependence? And they find the answer: this is the employing company.
Indeed, American companies very often give their employees personal laptops or pagers with BlackBerry feedback that they do not part with. Of course, this increases the efficiency of employees, but as it turned out, it threatens with lawsuits for the employer. The scientific work of Professor Porter with colleagues will be published in the academic press in the very near future. It describes cases when technologics lose control of their own lives and cannot break away from communication channels. In some respects, technologism can have a more devastating effect on humans than, for example, alcoholism.
Until now, many employers have chosen not to notice that employees are becoming addicted to technology, and have also denied harm to the personal lives of employees. After the advent of scientific work that confirms the existence of such harm, the situation may change. It is likely that the first lawsuits will appear in the very near future. Perhaps in the future, “technological” employers will be required to carry out special preventive procedures to prevent technological dependence.