Does your BlackBerry stress you out?

It's time to admit that you are tied to your BlackBerry. You may be on vacation, but it's on. You may be taking a nap on a Saturday afternoon, yet it is still by your side. It's the reason that BlackBerrys have been called "Crackberrys." Perhaps every CIO ought to give it a second thought before handing out a BlackBerry to every IT employee. Do they really need it? Can they work without it? Blackberry addiction has caused problems both on the worksite and off. Maybe it's stressing you out. Maybe it's keeping your workers from giving 100 percent to their jobs.

But there are some ideas that you can use to keep BlackBerry usage under control. In Canada, for example, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), a government agency, has issued a directive to employees banning them from using BlackBerrys for work related matters at night, during weekends and on holidays because workers' work/life balance is being thrown off balance.

In Chicago, the general manager at the Sheraton Chicago recently cracked down on his own BlackBerry use. "If you really get addicted the way I was, it's a problem," said Rick Ueno, general manager of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. "I would wake up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water and have to check my messages. I'd check [the BlackBerry] at traffic lights and everywhere else." Ueno decided to retire his Blackberry because it was stressing him out. Now he finds that he is more creative at the workplace. It might be time to do your employees a favor. Make them at least partially BlackBerry free and see what happens at your workplace. And let us know if it works wonders for you or if your workplace is still the same pressure cooker it has always been.

For more on shaking the Blackberry habit:
- See this CIO Magazine article

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