Smartphones may Increase Output but they Decrease Quality Time, Says Study
According to a recent study, smartphones like iPhones and Blackberry adversely affect an employee’s personal life.
Companies have started issuing smartphones and the provision of a free laptop to take home to their employees so that they can remain in touch with them at all times. Such devices enable the employees to check and reply to emails instantly, thereby increasing their output. However, the flip side to this story is that these employees are constantly working even after office hours. In fact, after a recent survey of 600 employees of Peninsula, an Ireland based business consultancy, it was discovered that most tech-savvy employees put in 16 hours of extra work in a week than an average employee. Employees with smart phones work for a total of 56 hours in a week as against the normal 40 hours, just because they are available at all times, thanks to their sleek handsets.
Alan Price, Managing Director of Peninsula, stated that smartphones enabled employers to remain in touch with their employees at all times and that too without having to pay any overtime for their work. While this is profitable for the employers, workers have to face severe loss on their personal front because of inability to maintain a balance between professional and personal life. In addition, they lose out on the overtime pay that they would have been entitled to, had they worked overtime inside their offices.
