Unintended Consequences of Technostress Mitigation: An Employee Perspective on the Effectiveness of Mitigation Measures

Abstract

The continuous use of IT, even beyond regular office hours, is considered a cause of technostress, which impairs the health and performance of employees. To mitigate technostress, European countries have established the right to disconnect, and many organizations are struggling to identify and implement other effective measures. Based on a qualitative study (N=30) with 23 IT workers, five managers, and two CIOs, this study identifies eight technological, social, and cultural measures to mitigate common techno-stressors. By focusing on the employees' perspective, the results reveal the extent to which the measures actually work, showing that well-intended countermeasures, such as email restrictions, might have unintended negative and even harmful side effects. Our analysis shows that mitigation measures seldom work in isolation and without spillover effects. We conclude that although technostress mitigation is complex and mitigation measures adopted in isolation can fail and sometimes cause additional harm, employees still appreciate the effort.