Give your brain a break and leave your smartphone at home.

Your smartphone does much more than provide you with connectivity to information, your contacts, and entertainment. Simply by being in the room with you, your phone drains your brain, stealing your ability to fully focus and be as productive as possible.

Step away from your phone!

Findings from a study conducted by the University of Texas states, “The researchers found that participants with their phones in another room significantly outperformed those with their phones on the desk, and they also slightly outperformed those participants who had kept their phones in a pocket or bag.”

Imagine the overall negative effects on large workforces.

The negative effects don’t stop here either.  Increased stress levels of always being on and lower job satisfaction and engagement from the distractions of non-work related activities with the phone, are also reasons to consider changes in phone policies in the work place.

No sudden movements here.

Strick bans can leave employees with the sense of being micromanaged and distrusted. Soft bans seem to be the way to go, but you need to get buy in.
Use the voluntary pilot approach for a smartphone soft ban.

As most smartphones are personal property it would be difficult for hard bans. Presenting a clear understanding of the research and a “test and see” approach, employees my be more willing to take on the challenge.  With positive outcomes and narratives pulled out from these employees and shared, this momentum can lead to a full movement away from smartphones being nearby.

Provide visual cues as well as reminders of this change.

Carefully selected and personalized branded products for the employees’ desktops offer 2 really strong benefits with your phone initiative. Along with many other benefits, the two strong ones are visual cues and collective reminders.
The visual cues provide a reminder to focus on the work at hand which has proven effective in improving productivity.  The collective reminders are to highlight that this new initiative is happening right now and fellow employees are taking part. Together these cues can increase productivity and encourage more employees to join the movement!

More brain power!

Simple,
•    Step away from your phone
•    Explain the research and benefits to employees
•    Pilot a “soft ban” to start
•    Tell the success stories
•    Provide visual cues to bring it all home

Your brain and your employees will thank you as will the bottom line of the business.  The next step is to also encourage this approach at home.  Again, you, the employees and the business will benefit the more this is deployed and reinforced.

Sources:
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462  - study on productivity and brain use when a phone is near.
https://news.utexas.edu/2017/06/26/the-mere-presence-of-your-smartphone-reduces-brain-power/  - another study with more data
https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/research/banning-use-of-smartphones-at-work-only-works-for-easy-tasks/ - some further findings
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10683-021-09715-w - visual cues and focus