A New Productivity for the Smartphone Era
About a year ago, I published a question in a Blackberry forum asking how the devices had helped to make professionals more productive.
The responses I received were typified by the one that I remember the most: “I am more productive because I can check my email on the train to and from work.”
This seemed like a reasonable response at the time. As a person who gets a bit nervous when I have nothing productive to do, I could relate. While I don’t take the train, the value of converting “down time” to productive time is a pretty attractive one.
And apparently, I’m not alone.
A recent survey of 1 million users in 34 countries showed that 62% believed that their work productivity was “much better” due to new technology. 75% consider the opportunity provided by devices such as smartphones and laptops to remain in constant contact with work as a positive development.
Apparently, “productivity” has been redefined.
According to our new definition, productivity has something to do with two things: converting “down time” to work time, and being able to “stay in touch” with what’s happening at work at all times. This kind of commitment used to be associated with “Type A” executives, but nowadays anyone with the right tools can join in the fun.
“Fun” might be a strong word, but many of us like to find new ways to be effective, and like to feel as if we’re getting better at managing our time.
However, what’s actually happening in the life of many professionals is not amusing at all. Their companies have taken the opportunity given them by technology and the recession to convince employees to spend more “down time” doing work. At the same time, they send a subtle message that “staying in touch” with work also means being available 24 hours a day for 52 weeks of the year.
Converting “Down Time” Nowadays, it seems, everyone with a smartphone has gotten into the habit of continuously trying to convert “down time” into useful, work time. Here are some everyday examples of ways in which many professionals are converting their “down time.”
- - a manager driving on the highway at 70 m.p.h. sends a text to his team (while spilling hot coffee into his lap)
- - an engineer in a meeting that’s going slowly, checks her email and replies (missing two action items assigned to her)
- - an accountant watching his child play baseball on Saturday morning closes a deal in the fourth inning via cellphone (and lies to his son about seeing him make his first catch ever)
- - a supervisor attending 3 days of personal productivity training is unable to leave her smartphone untouched for more than 15 minutes (and later complains that the trainer was ineffective)
- - a consultant speaking to a client on the phone remembers that he should have sent an urgent message to a colleague, and quietly does so (even as the client notes the sudden lapse in attention and interprets it as a lack of interest in continuing the relationship)
- - a hard driving attorney once again takes his smartphone to the urinal where he can multi-task (… and is noticed by his boss’ husband who happened to borrow his smartphone just five minutes earlier)
- - a family cheers in unison when executive-Mom forgets her smartphone at home 5 hours into the annual vacation (and falls into despair when FedEx delivers it the next day)
I recently asked a client: “How did your big presentation to the executive team go?” She responded: “OK… but the CEO spent the entire hour on his (expletive) Blackberry.”
This was bad news for my client, whose project was now being viewed by the CEO as another chunk of his “down time.”
If these are all examples of attempts to convert “down time” into useful time, take note of the way in which “down time” has been expanded. This is more than filling in the time that would be spent sitting on a train. The habit has invaded every nook and cranny of our lives, sparing no-one, and costing us dearly.
At this point, many of you reading are probably shaking your heads at some of the poor etiquette on display. I did the same, until I began to think of the mindset of the employees involved.
All the habits listed above were developed by professionals who were well intended — they were trying to boost their productivity by converting “down time” into something of value. Unfortunately, once we humans are hooked on a habit, it’s hard to stop, and we end up employing it inappropriately, much to the annoyance of others in our lives. In that moment, the fun has disappeared and the habit has become an empty, automatic practice that does more harm than good.
The worse part is that in many companies, executives are leading the way by example, as they are often the first users of these devices and the employees most likely to squeeze work into every available minute of their lives.
They are also the ones who are unwilling to sever the connection between themselves and their colleagues, even for a few hours each day.
Staying in Touch With Work A friend of mine once told me the story of a manager of rambunctious employee who was essential to the organization, but frequently complained and threatened to leave. In the space of a few months, he got married, bought a house and had a baby.
After these happy events, his manager passed my friend in the hall on hearing the latest it of happy news and whispered conspiratorially: “I have him now!” In other words, with his new family and financial obligations, the rambunctious employee was unlikely to raise more trouble, and would probably settle into a comfortable routine of corporate service with a steady eye on his pension, benefits and 401(k).
The point of the story? There are executives and managers who are blithely offering the gift of smartphones to their employees, and in some companies it’s seen as a reward, and a status symbol.
What many of them know, however, is that when an employee accepts the device, they are likely to join the group of the always-reachable, and engage in many of the behaviors that their higher-ups are practicing, such as: – sending and receiving messages at 2:30 am – using weekends, vacations and holidays to conduct company business – implicitly agreeing to respond to all messages within a short time-frame – interrupting ANY activity to “find out what my boss wants”
(If the stories told on YouTube and on blogs are true, then _anything_ can be interrupted nowadays by smartphone use!)
To put it in more Machiavellian terms, companies have found a way to take time and attention that employees used to spend on their own, with their families and with their friends, and convert it to company time. It starts with the gift of a smartphone.
While I truly doubt that there is some master plan, don’t doubt for a minute that a manager doesn’t know the difference between her employees who are always-reachable from those who aren’t. Companies can make big gains in productivity by simply giving away smartphones to their employees, while ignoring the added stress that gets created.
There are some companies that are noticing what is happening, however.
Enlightened companies take a page out of the medical profession, which has long realized that it’s important to maintain some kind of boundaries in their professionals’ lives. Companies can put in place policies that clearly delineate time spent “at work,” “on call” and “away from work.” They recognize that these are three distinct modes that must be enforced if employees are expected to function at their best.
Most employees, however, find themselves in un-enlightened companies and must make their own way, starting with 3 steps they must take.
Their first step is to identify the unproductive habits in their time management system. They can do the kind of analysis I describe on my website (www.2time-sys.com) to find the strong and weak spots.
The second step is to create an improvement plan that outlines the habits to be changed, along with some target dates. This gives them some realistic goals to heard towards.
The third step requires them to create an environment to make the habit changes easier to effect. Unfortunately, most habits do not change easily or quickly, and the right blend of supports can make all the difference.
Employees who have begun this personal journey need to make a plan to enlighten the executive team. Most smartphone use started with the CEO and her direct reports, and they are the ones who, in all likelihood, introduced, for example, a culture of 24 hour availability to the organization.
In an effort like this, employees need allies at all levels to help demonstrate that bad habits developed in the executive suite can wreak havoc when rolled out to an entire company. (There is a growing body of data available that can be used in this effort.) In an intervention, executives can be asked to imagine an all-company meeting in which half the attendees spend most of the meeting on their smartphones, lost in cyber-space. (Some would simply argue that they are following the fine example of their CEO!)
If the executive team can be convinced that these behaviors are destructive, then the company can move to specify some specific changes.
For example, the US Federal Government has banned the use of cell-phones by its employees while they are driving and conducting government business. In part, that’s because of obvious safety reasons.
From a productivity stand-point, however, it makes perfect sense. Other policies can be introduced to limit the use of smartphones and laptops during off hours, for starters. (In some companies, turning off all messaging devices between 12:00 am and 6:00 am would be a major step.)
Each company needs to look at its culture, as well as its strategy, and phase in these changes in a way that makes sense. They need to allow for the fact that habit change takes time, and that a new culture could not be born in an instant.
The single employee who decides to change their company has a very difficult task on her hands, however, as she realizes that smartphones have done more to change company culture in the past few years than any vision statement or 2 day retreat. She needs to appreciate that some executives may decide that they like the way things are going, and don’t want to change a thing. Those companies who take this route probably won’t see any immediate fallout as employees cling to their jobs for fear of losing them, but they’ll pay later. At some point in the future, productivity will be impacted on a large scale, as employees burn themselves out and the bottom line suffers.
It’s much better to make the small, enlightened changes now, than to wait until the cost is higher and the effort required seems to be impossible to garner.
All it takes to get started is one or two employees who are willing to redefine what productivity means for themselves and their companies, in favour of long-term results that are sustainable.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Francis Wade
I own a management consulting firm in Florida, and recently moved to live in Jamaica. Shortly after arriving, I began to study time management techniques when I found that my old system didn't work. I eventually coined the term "Time Management 2.0" for people who are continuously upgrading their own, custom approaches. Find out more about Time Management 2.0 and the MyTimeDesign training.
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Comments
Barry Wright, III says on July 8th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Thank you for this post Francis. Your examples are chilling, as is the subversive nature of it all. Somehow a culture has formed, and now a large number of people feel as if they have not choice in the matter. Thank you for putting this point of view out there as something to direct people to.
Francis Wade says on July 8th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
I'd be glad to answer any questions about my article here.
I strongly believe that the recession has scared employees into giving up control of their private time to their employers, meaning that they are working longer hours and multi-tasking all the time.
Will this continue once the recession is over, or are we seeing some crazy behaviour that will eventually wear itself out?
What do you think?
Francis Wade says on July 8th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Oh — I forgot — I have a webinar coming up on Wed, July 28th on this topic. We'll look at what individuals can do to get themselves out of the trap of decreasing productivity driven by new technology and demanding managers. For more details, see my website at http://2time-sys.com (it's free of cost.)
Linda says on July 9th, 2010 at 7:21 am
I'm not a hard charging executive but I have an iPhone. And, I put the damn thing down for most of my family and personal and "drive" time. Because, I saw that it could EASILY take over my life. I'm "only" the executive of my family's life – is your job more important than your family, safety and health?
NNM says on July 9th, 2010 at 7:22 am
About me:
I was given a htc a while ago. I didn't want to have one. I hate the thing.
By the time I get home from work, (NO, I will NOT speak while driving. It's against our rules anyway), I have ~3 calls to return; I get calls from work off hours, in the weekends. I hate my phone. I didn't want it. I was very happy having MY personal phone.
About others:
When I run a meeting, I will stop, wait, watch the sinner who tries to text or click on his phone; wait until he realizes everyone is waiting on him. Then he will turn the sound off.
When you're talkling to a collegue: why is the phone call more important? Do you let people just barge in and interrupt you? Just call him back when you can!
A phone is not meant to be your first priority. Live people in front of you should be more important.
I really hate the new phones. My next phone will be my old phone. My good old TELEphone. It was lightweight, fitted in my pocket, and represented my good life… Now I sigh and moan every time it vibrates.
sd says on July 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
The department I work in at my day job (Fortune 100 company) has been a “reverse roach motel” for years now as people retire, quit, or get laid off and hardly anyone new comes on board. As a result, over the past five years the staff has dwindled to about half what it was — but most of the work has stayed. This at a successful company!
I set my own boundary of no more than 45 hours of work a week and I work as efficiently as possible to make that happen. I rarely take lunch or coffee breaks, I’m usually working on two computers at a time (thank you, Remote Desktop!), I’m quick on the email Delete key, and I don’t go to meetings just to get away from my desk. My supervisor hints (often and darkly) that people at my job grade should be working more hours, but then both she and HER boss are workaholics. :-( I understand that professional work is not always 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. nowadays, but it cannot be 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, either. I know I will not get the promotions my 60-70/hour a week peers will get (though, interestingly, they get whacked in layoffs just as quickly as the rest of us). But it is my choice.
My approach to work used to be called the “mommy track.” I’ve taken to calling it the “life track.” Most organizations don’t want you to have a life because it’s not in THEIR best interest if you do. But it certainly is in YOUR interest. Set your own boundaries — smartphone or no (and, yes, I have one, though it’s my own). No one can take advantage of you without your consent. If everyone remembered that, we might be able to balance work and life a little better.
Francis Wade says on July 9th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Thanks Barry. It's amazing to me that there hasn't been an employee backlash… although I did hear that there are some legal issue involved in pushing employees to work at odd hours.
Apparently, an hourly-paid worker who uses their Blackberry to send a message on the weekend needs to be paid for each hour that they are active, even if they send only a single message in that hour.
This is pretty weak — not a backlash at all — but there may be more to come.
What's of concern to me is that no-one in HR is talking / writing about this issue (that I have heard,) but there is lots of quiet agreement that the crazy behavior has got to stop.
Francis Wade says on July 9th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
I have seen people who I consider to be fully addicted…
Meeting Manager says on July 9th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
An excellent point that any tool taken to extremes can have its consequences. I leave my phone on silent after 10pm and don't respond to emails until I set foot in the office in the morning. I also leave the phone in the living room. I enjoy being unreachable. Sadly, I am a bit guilty of responding to emails during meetings. Part of the problem of course is there are far too many meetings. I can't manage my team very well if I'm in meetings with everyone else all day long. There is little respect period for time between meetings today. I wish everyone had a 15 minute after-meeting moratorium where I could do things the meeting was about, note things, communicate with my team and respond to the 12 random things in my inbox before the next meeting I need to pay attention to.
JoeJ says on July 11th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Hmmmm, I definitely agree with Mr Wade's recommendations at the end of the post. Employees should not be pressured to give up more and more of their own time for work. However, the tone of the post gave me the impression that the vast majority of managers and execs are Machiavellian instead of simply leveraging technology and their human resources to maximize profit. It's simply what employers do, and if the employee doesn't like it, they should advise management, and be prepared for the consequences. With the job market appearing to open up at least a tiny bit (hopefully opening wide very soon!!!), this won't be the end of the world. And managers will have to heed the turnover numbers.
That said, I have an iPhone. I love it. It's made me more productive at work and home. It's a great tool for capturing all my ideas and tasks, refining my schedules, keeping me on schedule, etc. I no longer drive myself crazy trying to remember what needs to be done. I'm a non-managerial professional, working for your average, mid-size company, and I feel little or no pressure from management to give up free time. But I'll tell you, I'm more than happy to use some of my free time each weekend to improve skills and learn new techniques that can make me more valuable to current and future employers, as well as ponder current issues at work. Improving skills and showing a willingness to be a "go-to" person means greater self-esteem and ultimately a greater paycheck. Of course it's common sense, though, to ensure personal and work lives are balanced.
Trevor says on July 12th, 2010 at 2:25 am
The responses I received were typified by the one that I remember the most: “I am more productive because I can check my email on the train to and from work.”
Isn't that the point? You're not at work yet. Enjoy the transition; leave work for the workplace.
bish says on July 12th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Nice post.
I agree that we need to take positive action to stop the checking-checking-checking of emails, and the 24 hour availability. However I also believe that this is simply part of us maturing personally. I had the blackberry habit for about 6 months before I realised it wasn't actually any more productive. Indeed it led to me to do other things too – turn off all phones when I was in the middle of a hard piece of work, only check emails three times a day, proper uni-tasking, and all those habits that are not only more productive in the mid and long term, but leave you sane as well.
I've also learnt some of the ways that phones can be actually productive – ubiquitous access to existing information, such as being able to access any report or email iv created, is truly great; a single collecting tool for all my notes and thoughts; 24hr access to the people that I want to contact 24hrs a day, such as my partner or parents.
Francis says on July 12th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
JoeJ,
I don't think that most employers are Machiavellian… YET! lol We'll see what happens as the job market opens up and employees start pushing back.
The fact is, requiring one's employees to be available 24-7 isn't illegal, and it can be made to be a clear condition for accepting a job. It's all part of making a profit, and executives have been asking their employees to give more and more during these tough economic times.
It might change when the payoff for encouraging employees to un-balance their lives for their employers no longer outweighs the cost, which is something that is already happening in a few firms. Too few.
Francis says on July 12th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Meeting Manager: Perhaps the company could stop it's meetings 45 minutes after every hour to give people time to do other stuff than attend meetings. In college, we had 15 minutes scheduled time to get from class to class, but it was also time to decompress a bit.
The challenge you face is one that's common — I have a hard time finding out who to enlist in the effort to boost productivity, because a change like that would involve everyone and must come from the top. Should be the VP HR? The CEO? The CFO?
At the moment, it's difficult to say where one should start…
Francis says on July 12th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
@Linda – one my website I have linked to an article in the New York Times which suggests that our brains are changing in response to the stimulus being provided by the devices that fuel the "always on" culture.
I believe that at the moment when someone reaches for their smartphone there is an instant un-thinking response that overrides logic. Some people are locking their Blackberries in their trunks to prevent themselves from trying to use it while driving.
Along similar lines, others are using programs to block Outlook and Firefox for set blocks of time. Some companies have banned smartphones from their meeting rooms.
All of these examples show that we aren't in complete, conscious control of our habits, and the smartphone's strength is also turning out to be a weakness, and a danger.
What we need are the right habits, and sometimes the right ones take time to develop… time that most are too busy to cultivate.
Thanks for the comment (and to everyone else also who has taken a moment)
protoscholar says on July 12th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I think you are spot on with this. When I started my most recent job they said they were not giving me a blackberry because I wouldn't be traveling enough, and it was something of an ego hit. "What, I'm not important enough to need one?"
Now I'm glad. My boss gets email from HER boss at all sorts of crazy hours, and I just don't want to get into that.
Caitlin says on July 12th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
The developing cultural norm of total accessibility (24/7, 52 weeks a year) is troubling and has some significant long term consequences in store, as Mr. Wade points out so eloquently. I worry about the youngest generation of workers and their understanding of appropriate accessibility and productivity. Most people under 25 are already using their electronic devices to maintain a permanent social connection to the digital world. What will their professional link to the digital world look like? Can our smartphone obsession get deeper?
Determining and maintaining a healthy and successful balance between work and home is difficult, but throw in a perpetually-buzzing smartphone and we get an entirely new set of problems to confront.
Gary says on July 12th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Much of the blame is on the user. I know this was the case with me. I had to set limits on how I would use my pager, RIM, Palm, BlackBerry, iPhone (in chronological order ;) The best thing I ever did as one of the "leadership team" who were "allowed" to have a RIM on one of my projects was to STOP replying to non-urgent messages. That way, I could have the ego-stroke of being in with the in crowd and also maintain my sanity. There was some grumbling at first, but I stopped getting the drop-what-you're-doing-and-help-me messages.
Francis Wade says on July 13th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
This is a good one! Some research showed that companies on a whole are blind to the social pressure they place on employees to conform to smartphone-abusing behavior.
The bad news is that at some point, your boss will decide that you DO travel enough to get one.
Any idea what you might say then? (Maybe I'll write an article on "Plausible Reasons to Say 'Thanks but No Thanks' to a Nifty New Smartphone!" LOL
Francis Wade says on July 13th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I wonder what might happen when your boss changes her mind ,and decides to include you in the fun!
Maybe I'll write an article on "The Top 10 Reasons to Say 'Thanks But No Thanks' to a Nifty New Smartphone" LOL
Francis says on July 13th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
@protoscholar .I wonder what might happen when your boss changes her mind ,and decides to include you in the fun!
Maybe I'll write an article on "The Top 10 Reasons to Say 'Thanks But No Thanks' to a Nifty New Smartphone" LOL
Francis says on July 13th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Sorry to everyone — my comments are being deleted when I hit Reply. It's a problem the admin is working on as we speak.
Francis says on July 13th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
@Gary — this is exactly the kind of personal courage that I find in short supply in many companies. Of course, the job market hasn't helped at all, as many of us out there are too scared to challenge the status-quo.
Where will this uncommon commonsense come from in corporations?
Francis Wade says on July 14th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
@protoscholar: I'd love to know what you plan to tell her if/when she changes her mind!
I know people who always seem to be breaking their Blackberrys… "funny how often that happens…"
But seriously, at some point, if you stay in the job long enough or get promoted, you might find a little gift on your chair at work… then what?
(I might do an article on this very topic, now that I think of it LOL)
Patrick says on July 15th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Perhaps some of the examples given in this article (not all) show that people value others work in different ways. If an employee is in a meeting and considers it “downtime”, perhaps it is because it historically has shown little value to them. Is this presentation any use to me? No, I don’t see the value me watching this but rather than engage and argue, I’ll consider this “downtime” and check my blackberry.
In a market, products and services are valued differently by various people. A meeting is a bit like a biased sample of the market. Surely a higher proportion of people at a company meeting would be interested in a presentation than the same number of people sampled from the general population. In my opinion the reason someone is not interested in what I’m presenting is potentially a valuable piece of feedback in the development/marketing of a product/service.
juicy couture says on July 27th, 2010 at 2:13 am
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