Almost three-quarters of the working population think that technology has had a negative impact on their work-life balance. That is according to a new survey from Fastnet Recruitment.

This disproves a theory by economist John Maynard-Keynes, who in 1930 predicted that modern technology would give workers more leisure time.

In fact, 81% of employers and 68% of employees surveyed admitted to finding it difficult to achieve a work-life balance as a result of communications technology.

It found that 60% of employees access their work e-mail account on their personal device and almost two-thirds (62%) respond to work e-mails outside of office hours.

While 61% of employers surveyed expect employees to check e-mails outside of office hours.

More than half of the employees said that they access work e-mails while on annual leave - although 82% of employers do not expect their workers to access e-mails while on leave.

And 81% of employees think that remote e-mail access contributes to longer working hours.

"The responses to our latest HR survey indicate that employees and employers experience similar difficulties in managing work and leisure time" said Niamh O'Driscoll, Managing Director of Fastnet Recruitment and Search.

"Our survey shows that the increasing use of smartphones means that people are constantly connected, whether in or out of the office and indeed outside office hours. This 24/7 accessibility means that many of us feel obliged to respond to emails and calls outside of work hours" she added.

An overwhelming majority of employees (81%) surveyed think that remote email access has contributed to longer working hours.

In France, trade unions have recently imposed restrictions of French employers requiring "disconnection of communication tools" for contract workers in the hi-tech and consulting sectors.

However, Irish workers and employers were not in favour of such measures, with over half of employers and almost 75% of employees stating their objection to any similar restrictions in Ireland.