Just Ask Max, a new digital well-being service, has been launched to lead the response in helping to improve the ‘digital health’ of employees in the UK. With 69% of remote workers already experiencing burnout symptoms (Monster Survey, 2020) and four to five times more working remotely expected post-pandemic (McKinsey, 2021), supporting people’s digital lives is set to become a significant area of growth in 2021. The acceleration of remote working during the pandemic, the mental well-being issues that have arisen, and the emergence of ‘digital burnout’ has all acted as a catalyst for a need by employers to support their people’s digital health. With the UK poised to be next to adopt the new ‘Right to Disconnect’ regulation sweeping across the Europe, digital health is quickly emerging as the fourth segment of employee well-being, adding to financial, physical and emotional well-being.

Jonny Pelter, Just Ask Max’s founder and CEO, said: “The CEO of the dating app Bumble, announced this month that the business will be closed for a full week due to the impact of digital burnout as she noticed first-hand the impact on her staff. Employers and their HR directors now have a duty of care to do more to understand and promote digital welfare in the workplace given the changes to the ways we are now working.”

The Just Ask Max platform helps employees use technology in a safer, more secure and healthier way. Employees can get their home devices protected, protect their wider family online, assess their digital well-being, learn heathier tech habits, understand how to work from home productively and get personalised support direct from a community of experts when something goes wrong.

The launch of the platform comes as the business world adapts to the new normal and many businesses across the UK announce hybrid models with staff working from home for the majority of the time. Over the last year, UK employees are being given greater workloads and are logged on an extra two hours each day whilst working remotely (NordVPN, 2021) as the lines between personal and professional space have become blurred.

Jonny Pelter, Just Ask Max’s founder and CEO, said: “Employers are finding that existing mental health support mechanisms are able to treat the symptoms of issues like digital burnout, but not address the source of the problem directly. Our service is different to anything currently available – we’re moving away from the product-based ‘point solution’ that is dropped into an organisation (and often then just left) and towards a service-based model where we combine technology, engagement activity and wellbeing workshops to provide continued support over time.”

“Organisation’s IT Security teams can help protect company devices, but not employee’s digital lives. We’re able to help with everything from balancing work and their kids screen time, to parental controls, online scams, social media, cyber bullying, sexting – we have them covered.”

Just Ask Max has a highly expert team of behavioural science, cyber security, psychologists and digital well-being advisers as part of its growth plans in the corporate market.