Turn It off: How to Unplug from the Anytime-Anywhere Office without Disconnecting Your Career

Citation

(2001), "Turn It off: How to Unplug from the Anytime-Anywhere Office without Disconnecting Your Career", Work Study, Vol. 50 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2001.07950fae.002

Turn It off: How to Unplug from the Anytime-Anywhere Office without Disconnecting Your Career

Turn It off: How to Unplug from the Anytime-Anywhere Office without Disconnecting Your Career

Gil GordonNicholas Brealey PublishingISBN 1 8578 830 04£9.99 Keywords: Time management, Employment

E-mail, cellphones, laptops, personal digital assistants and the like were supposed to be liberating devices – freeing us from the confines of our office, allowing us flexible working lives. However, the reality is that such devices have taken us hostage – tying us ever more securely to our office desk. The result is that the boundary between "work" and "home" is increasingly blurred – and in some cases has disappeared completely. Gil Gordon suggests that it is time for us to regain control – and to "get a life". To do this, he offers:

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  self-tests for evaluating how much your work and personal time actually overlap;

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  techniques for managing e-mail and voicemail so that they do not control you;

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  advice on getting clients, customer – and your boss – to respect your boundaries;

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  suggestions for what to do if you are the boss – and why "unplugging" is good for business.

At the heart of Turn It off is the "100/60/0" model. By dividing the week's 168 hours into three "zones", you can work out when you will be "on" and available to the office for 100 per cent of the time, for part (suggested 60 per cent) of the time, or not at all.

This book is time management for the twenty-first century – recognising that ultimately setting limits for the virtual office benefits everyone – employees, customers and colleagues.