Dive Brief:

• According to the MIT Sloan School of Management Review, too much technology in the workplace is turning out to be a not-so-hot idea, the Boston Globe reports.

• "Pervasive and near-continual use of organizational information technology systems is taking a toll on some employees’ health. Companies have to step in to help," said the study authors. The authors found examples where some employees actually resigned because they found it too stressful to cope with and learn to use constantly changing workflows and applications. 

• Furthermore, the good things about tech—reliability, portability, user-friendliness, and fast processing—might also be undermining employee productivity, innovation, and well-being. Information technology’s "dark side" in fact "might be robbing companies of some of the very productivity gains they get from their IT investments."

Dive Insight

The MIT professors behind the research said there are a few things employers can do to try and reduce the negative side of tech. One is that senior leadership should make "mindful use" of IT an organizational priority, including identifying and mitigating risks associated with the use of IT. Ideas such as email-free weekday afternoons, for example, can be tried. 

The report says HR leaders should monitor and enhance employees’ well-being by implementing programs that monitor and measure whether employees experience dark-side IT-use effects. HR leaders should implement initiatives that foster positive job-related attitudes, recognizing that such attitudes can help thwart technology addiction, stress, and IT misuse.

HR leaders can also encourage and provide training resources for employees to maintain work-life-technology balance, the authors wrote.