The smartphone has become something of a whipping boy for our anxieties around the unstoppable creep of the digital realm into our daily lives. Is it really the fault of the device that we ‘doomscroll’ social media, or that we’re lost, literally, if we leave home without access to GPS?
Coming in on the side of the poor old smartphone is a study by the University of Galway and University of Melbourne into its personal use in the workplace. The study, conducted on workers at a European branch of a global pharmaceutical company, found that ‘using smartphones for personal purposes while at work can lead to reduced stress, as well as lower levels of conflict between work and personal life…with no discernible impact on worker performance’.
‘It’s hardly fair or reasonable to maintain a strict “work time is for work” ethos’
Staff resistance
The branch had banned use of personal mobile phones in the 1990s for health and safety reasons but was coming up against resistance from staff who felt disconnected, while senior management believed it made the branch appear technophobic.
Over the course of a year, 40 employees used their personal smartphones at work, while a similar number maintained the ban. The study found that as well as performance not dipping, the perceived conflict between the demands of work and personal life significantly declined for workers who had access to their phones. Employees reported being able to help with family issues, while spreading personal communications throughout the day meant they weren’t overwhelmed when they turned on their phones after work.
Part of life
While even running such a study might seem anachronistic, workplace smartphone bans are still a thing: a fifth of companies in Berlin do not allow personal phones, while Amazon only recently reversed a ban in warehouses for healthy and safety reasons. Meanwhile, other businesses, including accountancy firms, implement bans in fear of impact on productivity and security threats.
‘There’s a balance out there, and it’s up to the adults in the room to find it’
‘In an age when we routinely – and inconveniently – insert work matters into our workers’ private lives, it’s hardly fair or reasonable to maintain a strict “work time is for work” ethos,’ says Bill Catlette, a business coach and partner at Contented Cow Partners. ‘There’s a balance out there, and it’s up to the adults in the room rather than an HR nerd in the bowels of the ship to find it.’
Lee Murphy, managing director at The Accountancy Partnership, broadly agrees, while also echoing the findings in the study. ‘Our staff are welcome to use their phones when they need to, with many citing listening to music while they work as being great for their wellbeing. Some of our older members of staff remember how strict their former employers were about smartphone use, and the consensus is that a strict approach and the disconnect from their real lives makes for an unhappy workplace.’
Digital age
Murphy notes that excessive smartphone use would likely result in some discussion but, so far, he has not needed to have ‘that chat’ with anyone. ‘Our workplace is a stress-free environment – except maybe when self-assessment deadlines are looming – and a pleasant place to be,’ he says. ‘I think having a strict smartphone policy is old-fashioned, given we are firmly in the digital age.’
‘With a remote team, it’s a way of staying and feeling connected to people’
Pamela Phillips, managing director at digital practice de Jong Phillips, can’t imagine how a smartphone policy would even be enforced on their fully remote workforce and understands that people can easily feel isolated when working away from the office.
‘It’s probably more likely that people will be on their phones during their day for personal reasons; it’s a way of staying and feeling connected to people, as sometimes people can find it lonely working from home on their own,’ she says.
Ringing the changes
These devices can also provide a little normalcy. ‘When I was an employee, I never liked the idea that I was giving away my time for money,’ Phillips says. ‘And I loved to find little ways I could seize back some of the day for myself, like going for a walk on my lunch break. If listening to a podcast or sending a few messages to friends during the working day is something that makes someone have a better day, then I’m all for it.’
Lastly, accounting firms are generally busy businesses, so why waste time on battling on another front? For Catlette, the toothpaste is out of the tube, and it’s not going back in – which, in his case, is an incredibly good thing: ‘I’m alive today because an ICU nurse pulled out her cellphone and called an off-duty doctor to come stop a nasty internal bleed.’
