Utilising your personal smartphone at work has been demonstrated in recent research to be a useful strategy for reducing stress and the degree of conflict between your personal and professional lives.
The University of Galway and the University of Melbourne used the findings in a major research effort that they conducted. The study was based on a large pharmaceutical company’s European business, which since the 1990s had changed its phone policy from a severe ban. The study’s principal investigator is Professor Eoin Whelan of the University of Galway’s JE Cairnes School of Business and Economics.
The study tracked forty workers in the company who had abused the new rule by using their personal smartphones for work purposes for a period of one year.
The researchers compared this group to a comparable number of employees who acted as a control group and maintained a self-imposed ban by leaving their phones behind when they entered the workplace. ranging from a restrictive approach to personal phones to a free access policy for uses that are not related to business.
According to the findings of the study, while there was no obvious impact on worker performance, there were benefits associated with using mobile phones in a professional setting in moderation. When employees were allowed to access their phones during the day, they were able to assist with any family difficulties that may have arisen, which resulted in a reduction of stress for their partners and other members of their families. When compared to employees who did not have their personal phones with them for correspondence, it additionally reduced the emotional manageability of employees who did have their phones with them.
“Rather than enforcing a ban on smartphones in the workplace, our experiences in tracking the introduction of smartphones in this company suggest that a more effective strategy would be to establish an organisational climate where the company expectation for smartphone behaviours are known. For instance, ensuring that they are not used in meetings or in the canteen, with adherence monitored by employees themselves,” Professor Whelan said. “This would be a more effective strategy than enforcing a ban!”
