The rate of technological innovation and development in the last few decades has been unprecedented. Since the late 1980s, “the information technology revolution laid the groundwork for potentially the most profound changes in the workplace since the industrial revolution” (Cooper, Dewe, & O’Driscoll, 2001, p. xii). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become ubiquitous in our organisations and has centrality in everyday socio-economic life (Hoeven, Zoonen, & Fonner, 2016; Senarathne Tennakoon, da Silveira, & Taras, 2013; Sonnentag, Reinecke, Mata, & Vorderer, 2017). However, the impact of ICT on employees and, more particularly, on employee wellbeing, is not fully understood. This study seeks to understand how the use of employer-provided electronic productsemployer-provided electronic products impacts employees in the New Zealand public service and is timely given its recent digital transformation.

This research seeks to understand how the use of employer-provided electronic products impact employees working in the New Zealand public service particularly in the context of the rapid pace of technology development and adoption by organisations. In understanding how employer-provided electronic products impact employees, this study aims to identify the benefits, together with any challenges, that face employees. Further, this research seeks to identify how the employee experience of employer-provided electronic products use could be applied to inform organisational guidance for best practice use.

This study employed a qualitative methodology and utilised data from 23 one-on-one semi-structured interviews with research participants from New Zealand public service organisations. The sample comprised full-time employees from all levels of the public service. To meet the primary research objectives the interviews were focused on understanding individual participants experience of employer-provided electronic products including their perceptions of use expectations and what, impact use of employer-provided electronic products use had on both their public domains (work) and their private domains (home). Interviews were transcribed and summarised, followed by full thematic analysis supported by NVivo software. Technology affordances and uses and gratification theory were used as lenses in this study during analysis as a framework to understand the data and support insights.

Data analysis identified six key theme areas which enabled broader conclusions to be drawn about the experiences of employer-provided electronic products. The changes, driven by the technology affordances of mobility and constant connectivity, have affected and transformed work life.  While these changes enable employees to balance work and homelife, increase cognitive and social cohesion in some instances, and provided an opportunity to balance professional and personal commitments. However, the changes also shifted behaviours and attitudes including ending traditional standard working hours, supporting invisible work and longer work weeks. Work spilled over into evenings and weekends and participants reported an amplified perceived pressure to respond work communication and issues during non-work time. The resulting impact on employee wellbeing was largely negative and included feelings of fatigue, derailment, and a blurring of employee boundaries that separate work and homelife. Additionally, the study identified the importance of individual boundary control and autonomy in how, when, and where to work as coping mechanisms employed by participants. In addition, the study found an appetite for high level guidance on expectations of use across the public service.

The practical implications of this study are intended to be useful for leaders and employees in the public service interested in capitalising on the benefits of technology affordances while contemporaneously supporting employees to manage the challenges. They provide a foundation for the design of guidance for employers and employees surrounding organisation-provided electronic products. This guidance is intended to mitigate some of the unintended negative impacts use can have on employee wellbeing. This study’s findings also advance understanding of contemporary public service administration, and how use of employer-provided electronic products impact employee wellbeing in this sector.