Eoin Whelan

So they decided to do a trial to see what would happen in the company when the ban was overturned and employees could use their phones in the workplace.

So we studied this.

We gathered data before the ban or when the ban was in place and what happened after.

We had a group of employees who, even though they could use their phone, they decided not to use their phone.

They liked not being contacted during work.

And some employees did.

So what we found overall, there was no difference in performance or productivity.

So this was self-reported by the employees themselves.

And of course, they'd say, well, they probably would say that.

But we also verified that with the management.

And some of the managers are very sceptical about overturning the ban, but they came to realise that it didn't actually have an effect on performance and productivity.

And I guess the important thing, David, is the context is important here.

We're not talking about someone checking their phone 200 times a day or

spending two hours scrolling TikTok or something, this was reasonable access to their phone that if someone needed to contact them or they needed to, you know, send a message very quickly for a minute or two during the workday, it was just that ability to know that they were being, could be contacted, that reduced stress for them.

And actually it acted a positive impact on what we call work-life conflict.

That when they weren't contacted, their partner, if they had to look after kids, their partner had to take up a lot of responsibilities.

And that actually created some issues in the family life when they got home in the evening at the end of their shift.

Yeah, it reduces the anxiety.

And the interesting thing about our study, what was surprising to all, is it was actually the younger workers, they were the ones who really wanted not to have their phone in the workplace.

So the guys who just came out, yeah, and a surprise to me as well, the digital natives, as we call them,