By Tony Featherstone
The attendant at a seaside carnival had a lax approach. He used one arm to strap children into a small bungee-jumping ride and the other to check texts on his phone. As children bounced a few metres in the air, he was lost in cyberland.
At the nearby jumping castle, the attendant was unaware that children were trampling each other. She, too, was glued to a phone. Never mind that young kids need moderate supervision on such devices, to reduce injury risk. The texts came first.
Playing with your phone at work: has it gone too far?
These are worrying examples of mobile phones causing workplace problems. Imagine if disgruntled patrons took pictures of attendants strapping children into rides as they checked their texts, and posted the photos to social media. Is it any wonder people are concerned about safety standards at established and temporary theme parks?
These examples, although extreme, are not isolated. From the cafe barista who checks texts between making coffees, to the shop assistant who would rather check her Facebook page than serve customers, to the personal trainer who checks his texts as clients exercise, to office employees who are glued to their phone in meetings. Everywhere you look, someone is checking their phone when they should be working.
Kids' carnival rides are not the place to take a lax approach.Credit: John Bisset/Fairfax NZ
Which raises the question: is a bigger crackdown on mobile phones at work needed?
Sporting clubs have phone usage in their sights. The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league club last week announced a ban on players using mobile phones while in a team environment. It said phones distract players from the job and risk damaging relationships and club morale.
Yes, plenty of people need access to their phone at work and use it responsibly. But many more have no excuse to check their phone every 10 minutes. They should be able to get through half a shift without having to dive for the damn thing.
Either their employer has no mobile phone policy at work, is not policing it, or staff are too addicted to their phone to follow protocol; going four hours without checking their phone causes too much anxiety for employees who are trapped online.
This is not just a productivity issue. In the earlier examples, inappropriate phone usage caused safety and reputational risks at a carnival. I have also seen tradespeople use their phone around heavy equipment and between tasks. What if someone is injured?
Staff addiction to mobile phones infuriates customers. You must get the waiter's attention as they wade through their social media feeds. Or wait for the shop assistant to finish their text before serving you. Or be "phubbed" (phone snubbed) by someone who dives for their phone mid-conversation at work.
Some staff would rather send and receive messages on their phone than talk to colleagues before meetings. They prefer to check their text messages than say good morning to their peers in the next cubicle. What a blight on office morale.
This is not how relationships form. I am yet to see a mobile phone that adds to office culture, encourages staff to make a bigger discretionary effort or buy into the firm's mission and values. Or phone addicts getting promoted, although some must, given their numbers.
Companies arguably have a duty to save staff from their phones at work. Crazy, I know, but well-meaning companies support staff through other health issues, so why not mobile phones if it is clear the employee has a debilitating technology addiction?
It is too much to expect some young employees (and older ones, too) to go from checking their phone every nine minutes at university, to going cold-turkey for hours in their job.
My guess is that many organisations do not realise the scale of inappropriate mobile phone use in their workplace. And their senior managers set a terrible example because they, too, are glued to their phone.
Firmer rules for usage at work are needed. For example, strict no-phone policies in meetings and the office foyer or when staff are in contact with customers. And a general request to use mobile phones only when needed in the office. Requiring senior managers to lead by example is critical.
Also, mobile phone usage works both way. I feel for busy cafe staff who wait for customers to finish their text before taking their order. There is scope for companies to ask customers, gently, to limit usage in their stores.
Sadly, this obsession is moving from being an annoying office time-waster to a large risk. Companies that stand back and let employees text their way into an addiction will have a costly problem to fix in coming years – if they do not have one already.