At one time, doctors, police officers and firefighters were among the few whose career required them to be on call at all times.  Doctors in particular carried pagers on them so that they were never disconnected from the practice or hospital.  But technological advances have changed all of that.

Cell phones, laptops, BlackBerry devices and other forms of communication technology keep people in contact with their offices even when they are home or on vacation.  And if the technology goes home, so does the work.

“That’s the real fear that they can take it home with them,” said Laura Hansen, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.   “It used to be that the only people that were on call after hours were physicians and they’d have their pagers.

“And then slowly and surely, businessmen were starting to use pagers.  And then it segued to cell phones.  In fact, I don’t know how many people even have pagers anymore, probably still physicians.  But now you are literally on call to your employer 24/7.  Whether you’re on vacation or whether it’s the weekend or whatever down time it might be, you’re on call at all hours for your employer.  Now, whether all employers take advantage of that, I think it depends on the industry.”

The phenomenon affects people of all ages.  But people ages 18 to 30 may expect to be on call for all or most of their working lives. They are also becoming accustomed to taking work home.  As such, the workday doesn’t end when they leave the office at 5:00 p.m. 

Hansen sees this happening in academics.  It would be unusual to not check and respond to e-mails over the weekend, she said.  Checking in on a regular basis while on vacation has become customary as well, she added.  Laptops have made such a task much simpler.

The professor has found evidence that more people are taking days off to work from home.  Parking spots at the train station near where she lives are more available on Wednesdays because that seems to be the most common day for people to stay home and work from their home offices.

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