Death of 9 to 5 job thanks to social media

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – For some of you, checking Facebook and twitter for work, might be the first thing you do when you get up in the morning.

Whether it’s on your smartphone or tablet, the use of social media is killing the nine to five job.

Linda Gully with the Sauder School of Business says more people are working overtime tweeting and posting job related things on Facebook outside of their regular shift.
    
She says this trend is happening in all sorts of industries and it is making people burn out fast.
    
“You definitely need a break and that’s a challenge.  Finding that personal balance and being able to set up those boundaries,” says Gully.   “You need to understand your company, the culture, and what boundaries they want and then some of it is just personal self discipline to say ‘hey, I’m going to turn it off because you need that break or you’re going to burn out.”  

“If you’re sending out those tweets or you know, you’re posting on Facebook with work related things at midnight, 2am in the morning, what’s the message you’re sending to those people receiving that.  ‘Oh you’re available 24 hours a day’,” explains Gully.
    
Of course, she encourages people to be diligent but she warns doing all of those extra tasks shows your employer and clients that you’re available 24/7, and some may even take advantage of that.
    
“Sadly, I know several companies that say, you know what  we know  we can get a new grad, work them hard for 2 to 5 years, their burnt out, they move on.  That’s the strategies for some companies but not a healthy one,” warns Gully.
    
With technology moving and the use of social media growing even further in the future, she’s reminding people to keep a fair distance from your smartphone and other devices.

“You’ve got to recognize you have to go into the workforce and  keep a healthy balance in your life.  You can’t give your whole life to your work.”