Dive Brief:

• Smartphones work wonders for today's employees, helping them stay connected, keep email inboxes clean and complete critical tasks while on the go. But, according to some new academic research, smartphones are productivity killers when employees are working at their desks. 
• The research, by the Universities of Würzburg and Nottingham Trent and commissioned by Kaspersky Lab, found a direct correlation between productivity levels and the distance between participants and their smartphones.
• Overall, the study tested the behavior of 95 people between 19 and 56 years of age. Participants performed a concentration test under four different circumstances: smartphone in the pocket, at their desk, locked in a drawer and removed from the room. When researchers completely took away smartphones, performance improved by 26%. Test results hit bottom when the smartphone was on the desk, but with every additional layer of separation between participants and their smartphones, performance increased.

Dive Insight:

In a less scientific but related survey, recent results from CareerBuilder aligned with those from the academic study. So what's an HR leader to do? Banning workplace digital devices is not realistic, but these findings can give HR leaders and employers insight on how to improve productivity.

Once idea is to create "smartphone-free" time periods, including banning phones or computers in meetings, for example. Vladimir Zapolyansky, head of SMB Marketing at Kaspersky Lab, adds that employers should know that distractions created by smartphone use in the workplace can create data security issues, a growing problem within the HR landscape. In fact, Kaspersky Lab has been researching how digital change makes people more vulnerable to cybercrime, information that could be helpful to HR leaders looking for help in shoring up data security training across their workforces.