Volkswagen Deactivates Blackberry Emails To Off-Duty Staff

German automaker Volkswagen is pushing for a better balance between the work and home lives of its employees by deactivating messages on their company Blackberrys outside of work hours. According to the New York Times, an agreement was reached with labor representatives that will see staff members at Volkswagen receive emails via Blackberry from 30 minutes before they start work until 30 minutes after the end of their shift.

For the rest of the time, servers will stop routing emails to their smartphones, although staff will still be able to use their device to make calls and access its other features. This restriction covers employees in Germany working under trade union negotiated contracts but doesn’t yet apply to senior management at the company.

Volkswagen