Gadgets do not affect productivity and help reduce stress
The use of mobile gadgets by employees at work sometimes causes considerable irritation for employers. But studies have shown that allowing employees to use their personal smartphones at work does not affect their productivity – and actually helps reduce stress.
If you work in an office, you may not be comfortable using your smartphone during working hours, writes the Daily Mail. But a new study will have you reaching for your device with joy.
This study found that allowing employees to use their personal smartphones at work does not affect their productivity. In fact, according to researchers from the University of Galway and the University of Melbourne, it actually helps reduce stress.
“Preventing phone use in the workplace can increase work-life conflict, which in turn has significant implications for productivity, job satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover intentions and overall well-being,” said Professor Eoin Whelan, who led the study.
The study was conducted at the European subsidiary of an unnamed global pharmaceutical company. The company initially banned personal use of phones in the 1990s for health and safety reasons amid concerns that employees were becoming distracted when working with hazardous chemicals. Employees have expressed dissatisfaction with the ban, saying it makes them feel “disconnected” from the world.
Senior management also felt that the ban contributed to the perception of the branch as technophobic and that it hindered competitiveness with other parts of the company.
Prior to the study, only senior management was allowed to bring their personal cell phones to work.
The study tracked about 40 employees over the course of a year as they took advantage of the new relaxed policy and used their personal smartphones at work.
The study also tracked a similar number of employees who followed a voluntary ban by leaving their phones with them when entering the work area.
Information was obtained through qualitative interviews. So, despite concerns that smartphones would distract attention and lead to loss of concentration, work productivity did not decrease after the ban on smartphone use was lifted.
Work-life conflict is the perceived conflict between the demands of work and personal life. decreased significantly among workers who had access to their phones compared to those who did not, writes the Daily Mail.
Employees who had access to phones also reported that during the day, gadgets could help cope with marital problems, helping to reduce pressure on their partner.
Distributing private messages throughout the day also meant that employees were not overwhelmed work, when you turned on your phone after work.
While many previous studies in this area have focused on work-related communications outside the workplace; this study did the opposite, focusing on personal communications within the workplace.
Participating universities believe the findings are groundbreaking and will contribute to the understanding of the relationship between technology and work-life balance, as well as provide practical insights to organizations , seeking to create a healthier, more balanced work environment.
“Rather than banning smartphone use in the workplace, our experience tracking smartphone adoption at this company suggests that a more effective strategy would be to create an organizational climate in which “The company's expectations for smartphone behavior would be known, such as ensuring they are not used in meetings or in the cafeteria, with compliance enforced by employees themselves,” says Professor Whelan. “Managers need to be aware of the unintended consequences of enforcing a ban on smartphone use.” .
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