Texting on the job is blurring work-life balance boundaries
The way we communicate at work has overwhelmingly gone virtual in the past decade, and more recently it appears no channels for correspondence are safe from professional messages — including texts.
Workers say texting is an increasingly common way they communicate with coworkers and clients, and how they communicate with them. It’s a way to bypass brimming inboxes and get straight to the source you need an answer from, making it probably the most effective way to actually get in touch with someone today. But that’s not without crossing some personal boundaries, and potentially giving a false sense of urgency and putting undue stress on those expected to respond.
Five years ago, it would’ve been “very strange” for Rhea Freeman, a PR strategist and small business coach and consultant, to receive a text related to work. Today she texts and uses WhatsApp, a text-based international communication app, for work just as often as she uses her email.
“I think that those kinds of boundaries aren’t as crisp anymore at all,” Freeman said.
She doesn’t find it necessarily annoying, though in some cases it can be — like when she’s already received an email from someone working on a task they asked about, then receives a text regarding it.
“You think ‘I’m already on this,’ and that can be a bit annoying because you think ‘I’m doing the best I can, I can’t do anymore.’ But then equally, I guess I would much rather somebody text than me miss something,” she said.
That might be a product of the pandemic and remote work, and the fact that a quick chat when stopping by a colleague’s desk isn’t as commonplace today. “I think it’s almost, for some people, texting kind of replaced that chat function, the real life face-to-face quick question function,” she said.
Victoria Watson, a self-employed publicist and consultant, texts every day for work.
“The nature of my business means I need to be able to react to media inquiries quickly and often at odd times of the day working across different time zones,” Watson said. “We never used anything other than email when I started my career and I think it is more of a recent shift whether we like it or not,” she said.
She texts and uses WhatsApp, and says it’s necessary for someone running their own business. “I would definitely miss out on opportunities for my clients. And I like the speed and efficiency it gives me,” she said.
She wouldn’t be as OK with it if she worked for a larger employer though, she said. “In that scenario, I think it can overstep the mark and it is harder to manage boundaries, say with your manager for example,” she said.
Paaras Parker, CHRO at Paycor, also texts for work almost every day. Those texts are often a follow-up question from a colleague or something they forgot to ask earlier. People also text her when they know she’s traveling because they know that’s the best way to reach her in those cases.
It’s important for managers to ask their teams what their preferred communication channel is and ensure boundaries aren’t being crossed, but depending on the role, getting work texts isn’t always something you can just opt out of.
“I think the most important thing is people communicating their needs, their boundaries, their preferences, and then your managers, your peers and coworkers, knowing those and being respectful of that,” she said.