Following this phone etiquette at work boosts job satisfaction, motivation

The average person spends about three hours per day staring at their smartphone. Depending on your age, occupation, and personal preference when it comes to modern technology, that may sound like a lot or a little. Wherever you may personally fall on the screen time spectrum, noteworthy new research suggests cutting back on phone use while working offers a number of professional benefits.

Conducted at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany and just published in the scientific journal Acta Psychologica, these findings make a strong case against scrolling while on the clock. Let’s take a closer look at the impact of telephone etiquette on work outcomes.

Just one hour less daily pays off big time

It’s no secret that minimizing time spent on smartphones shows an association with better mental health. This correlation has been identified across countless studies in recent years, but that hasn’t exactly motivated many people to kick the habit. 

The vast majority of people still spend their waking hours jumping from app to app on their smartphone, and that includes time spent on the job. While smartphones can certainly be used for legitimately business-related matters, we all know how easy it is to begin using a smartphone for less productive endeavors like social media or shopping.

This latest research now tells us that using a smartphone at work for just one hour less daily appears to help foster greater feelings of both job satisfaction and professional motivation among employees of all kinds.  

Happiness and productivity go hand-in-hand

This study, led by Dr. Julia Brailovskaia from the German Center for Mental Health and the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at Ruhr University Bochum, was conducted among a group of 278 participants. Study authors stress their findings aren’t relevant for only workers; employers should be aware of this phenomenon as well. Countless companies and organizations devote major resources and money to promote a positive work environment and happy, productive employees. 

“These factors are crucial for a company’s productivity,” Dr. Brailovskaia explains in a university release.

Luckily, thanks to the results stemming from this work, researchers believe they’ve settled on a simple yet effective way (cutting down on smartphone use) to both ensure companies hit their productivity targets and workers improve their mental health and work-life balance.

Assessing the impact of screen time, exercise

This research project separated participants into four cohorts. The first cut down on smartphone screen time by one hour, the second increased their daily physical activity by a half hour, the third did both, and the fourth changed nothing at all regarding their daily routine. All included subjects came from a diverse variety of professional backgrounds.  

Additionally, everyone filled out a series of online surveys before beginning the study, as well as immediately afterwards and two weeks after the study had ended. This provided researchers with crucial data focusing on their well-being in regards to both work and mental health in general.

Exercise helps too

Across the smartphone and combination groups, researchers noted work satisfaction and motivation, as well as work-life balance and mental health, all improved mightily. Moreover, reported feelings of work overload and symptoms associated with problematic smartphone use significantly declined. Importantly, however, all interventions appeared to promote a reduction in depressive symptoms and an increased sense of control among participants.

“A conscious and controlled reduction of non-work-related screen time, in combination with more physical activity, could improve employees’ work satisfaction and mental health,” Dr. Brailovskaia concludes.

All in all, study authors posit such interventions can either help complement an already-existing training program for employees or work as a stand-alone, extremely efficient new program.