Erin L. Kelly

Overload is a thoughtful discussion about the health impacts of a digitally-enabled "always available" knowledge worker experience, offering a well-designed intervention and suggestions for policy reform. The takeaway is simple and refreshing: treat your workforce like adults (let them have a say in their hours and where they do their work), and everyone benefits.
The authors dual agenda work redesign intervention is an impressive feat in organizational studies; they were actually able to conduct a randomized controlled experiment, lending a tremendous amount of credibility to their findings. Unfortunately, as illustrated by the firm's reversion to their old organizational design (after a merger), the larger implication is that interventions like this are unlikely to stick when workers are in a weak bargaining position in the first place (fearing downsizing), and when the effects of worker satisfaction and turnover don't have acute financial implications.
It's important to note the book is largely written for an academic audience, and reads like an accessible extended journal publication. So you might not find all the content relevant if you are an overloaded employee or employer searching for answers. It shares similarities with Zeynep Ton's "The Good Jobs Strategy," but focused on knowledge and white collar work.… (mais)