From Crackberry to "Lax" Berry

So long to the days of the “crackberry” curse. No longer are employees stressed by their wireless devices and made to feel harnessed by a corporate e-leash. According to Yahoo! HotJobs’ annual virtual workplace survey, 37 percent of employees feel more relaxed than stressed when they are connected to work by a wireless device, and another 42 percent are altogether indifferent to their wireless device, feeling neither relaxed nor stressed by it.

Along with the widespread acceptance of wireless devices may come a lapse in proper etiquette. Of those surveyed, 18 percent admit to being reprimanded for having bad manners when it comes to their wireless device. This behavior extends in and out of work with another 39 percent saying that they respond almost instantaneously when they receive a professional email or call outside of business hours.

“The gravity of leaving the house without your wireless device has become synonymous with that of leaving your keys at home, if not worse,” explains Tom Musbach, managing editor of Yahoo! HotJobs. “As the wireless device becomes more ubiquitous for personal and professional reasons, many employees develop a psychological need for constant connection. While this connection can be a positive from a professional standpoint, it’s important to remember that the use of wireless devices needs to be managed and certain missteps avoided.”

Boardroom Security Blanket

With 38 percent of respondents describing their wireless device as a necessity, these gadgets have become exponentially more integrated into workplace culture:

The majority, 55 percent, of respondents use more than one wireless device to stay connected when outside of work;
More than half, 55 percent, of respondents say that their office supports a virtual workplace culture - allowing employees to choose from where they’d like to work;
Almost one in three, 28 percent, of respondents say that having the freedom of remote access via a wireless device helps them work more effectively than when they are in the office; and
Almost one quarter of survey respondents admit to only putting their wireless device down when they are sleeping, and only 5 percent of respondents admit to being 100 percent offline when not in the office - down from 8 percent last year.

Disconnect: Wireless Faux Pas

As wireless devices become further cemented into corporate culture, a spectrum of acceptable and unacceptable behavior has emerged:

Inappropriate wireless device etiquette (in order of least to most reprehensible):

Answering a work call or email during personal time after work hours
Talking on the phone while in close quarters (e.g. train, plane, bus)
Talking on the phone while in the bathroom
Answering the phone or emails while at a business dinner
Accepting a personal call while in a meeting or presentation

Posted to the site on 23rd April 2008

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