Worker’s performance improves with smartphone off

A study has found that workers are happier and improve their performance if they give up using their smartphones one evening a week, the Daily Mail reported on March 19.

The results come from a research team at Harvard Business School who monitored professionals being banned from monitoring their work after 6 p.m. once a week over three years.

The participants, 1,400 management consultants of the Boston Consulting Group, said it led to improvements in happiness and performance at work against expectations.

Professor Leslie Perlow, the lead researcher, said she was inspired to conduct the study after she found that 26 percent of professionals in the U.S. always have their smartphones near them, even beside their bed.

The experiment was carried out under conditions that it would be halted immediately if there was the slightest concern about the quality of work.

But workers said they found their work-life balance improved, and they became more productive.

Some 59 percent of them agreed with the statement “I am excited to start work in the morning” compared with 27 percent of those who weren’t.

Asked if they ‘feel satisfied’ with their jobs, 78 percent of those who had just one evening off a week said yes, compared with 49 percent of those who said no.

This was because those who turned their phones off spent more time with their families and started making future plans for their social lives.

“People who turn on smartphones all the time spent working plus all the additional time monitoring their work in case something came up. The less predictable their work, the more people were on,” Professor Perlow said.

“By being constantly connected to work, they seemed to be under more pressure.”

She said that by making one night a week free, it helped to break the cycle. <Korea Times>

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