Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

It’s time to limit personal use of mobile phones during work

From family dinners to watching movies, people seem to spend more time texting or surfing than talking. Indeed, IKEA’s Life at Home Survey showed that 83 per cent of Singaporeans use their phone during mealtimes even though a majority find that behaviour annoying.

Few firms in Singapore have established policies on mobile-phone usage and almost none seem willing to risk taking a firm stand. Photo: Reuters

Few firms in Singapore have established policies on mobile-phone usage and almost none seem willing to risk taking a firm stand. Photo: Reuters

From family dinners to watching movies, people seem to spend more time texting or surfing than talking. Indeed, IKEA’s Life at Home Survey showed that 83 per cent of Singaporeans use their phone during mealtimes even though a majority find that behaviour annoying.

While phones during family and social events may be irritating, what is far more worrying is the health and security risks as well as the lower productivity caused by people using personal mobile phones on the job.

Head to the airport, for example, and you may well see security guards distracted by their phones. Your doctor often takes a call or reads a message during an appointment.

More than a quarter of the drivers polled recently in the AXA Singapore Road User Behaviour Survey admitted to texting while driving and more than 80 per cent in an earlier survey said they used the phone while driving.

Such use of phones can have dire consequences.

Research led by SingHealth’s Marine Parade Polyclinic director Dr Agnes Koong, for example, showed that incoming phone calls could distract healthcare workers and result in errors that put patient safety at risk. In the United States, Samuel Merritt University Professor Deborah McBride similarly found that registered nurses frequently use personal mobile phones in hospitals, where vigilance is essential, and the distraction could be hazardous to patients.

Other firms suffer from staff using mobile devices too. A study in the United Kingdom showed that 41 per cent of workers use their smartphones for texting and checking emails during meetings, and more than a third said digital distractions made it difficult for them to finish their work. And drivers, whether they are in taxis or lorries or any other vehicles, are four times as likely to have an accident if they use their mobile phone while driving, according to the US National Safety Council. Even just the buzz from a mobile phone notification can reduce work performance. A study by Florida State University researcher Cary Stothart found that the reverberations from mobile phone notifications were just as distracting as voice calls or text messages, with people who were aware of an alert being three times as likely to make mistakes.

It is not only workers who do worse when they use mobile phones. Student performance suffers as well. Kent State University Associate Professor Andrew Lepp found that increased mobile-phone use was linked to decreased academic performance.

A study of schools in England that banned mobile phone usage, led by Louisiana State University Professor Louis-Philippe Beland, similarly found that student performance in examinations increased significantly following the ban. Perhaps more importantly, that better performance was driven by the lowest-achieving students, which perhaps suggests that restricting mobile phone use can reduce educational inequality.

These results do not mean that there is no benefit from using mobile phones at work. Indeed, smartphones can significantly improve results when they are part of the job. In India, farmers increased their incomes by using mobile phones to get weather forecasts and figure out the best time for harvests. And an automobile company in Australia that provides replacement cars to people who have been in accidents doubled its productivity by using mobile phones to deploy staff more effectively.

The difference is these phones were provided by the employer for work-related needs, rather than being personal phones.

NO PHONES, PLEASE

Companies in some places are taking action to reduce the negative impacts caused by mobile phones. In the US, companies including FedEx and UPS have banned personal mobile phones in some workplaces. Organisations such as eBay have implemented a no-device policy for certain meetings to stop people from checking their devices and tuning out of the discussions.

Even United States President Barack Obama has had to tell his Cabinet members to leave their mobile phones in a basket before entering the room to meet him, to make sure his most senior staff stay on track.

However, few firms in Singapore have established policies on mobile phone usage and almost none seem willing to risk taking a firm stand. For the sake of consumer safety and security, as well as the national economy, companies here need to start thinking about how to cope with the risks of mobile phone usage at work.

When peoples’ lives depend on vigilance, as at healthcare and security firms as well as other higher-risk companies, banning usage during working hours and allowing staff to take “phone breaks” could be an option. Other companies could establish policies that set reasonable limits on when smartphones can be used and prohibit usage in meetings. Senior executives and policymakers as well as teachers could model good behaviour by not using their own phones during meetings, national events or other essential tasks.

What will no longer work well in mobile-phone-addicted Singapore is simply allowing the problem to continue. Our productivity, economy, education and even our lives could be at risk unless workers turn off their personal mobile phones and pay attention to their work.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Richard Hartung is a financial services consultant living in Singapore since 1992.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.