- Companies increasingly ban phones during work for distraction, security.
- Some firms use physical pouches to secure employee smartphones.
- Bans may boost routine tasks but impact creative roles.
Workplace phone bans are no longer limited to concert venues or comedy shows. A growing number of companies across industries are now restricting employee smartphone use during work hours, citing concerns over distraction, data security, and basic workplace etiquette. From financial giants to theatres, businesses are experimenting with physical pouches, strict meeting rules, and formal policies to keep phones out of the picture.
The results, however, are not entirely straightforward, with researchers pointing out that the impact of such bans can vary depending on the nature of the job.
How Companies Are Enforcing Phone-Free Work Environments
One of the more hands-on approaches comes from ID.me, a digital identity verification company. The Financial Times reports that the company rolled out phone pouches for around 290 support employees more than three years ago to better protect sensitive client data.
The small, sealed bags can only be opened at a magnetic unlocking station, similar to the Yondr-style pouches used at live events. Unlike traditional lockers, employees keep the pouches on them throughout their shifts, meaning they can still hear calls or emergency alerts. Phones are also accessible during scheduled breaks.
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For ID.me employee Kamilah Muiruri, the change has had an unexpected benefit beyond data protection.
“It gets us to connect with each other,” Muiruri told the outlet. “I didn’t really know people in the office as I was focusing on the friends I have outside the office. Now, we are very close as a team . . . [and] very big on going out together.”
“When I first started . . . I wasn’t the best employee, constantly checking my phone,” she added.
Do Phone Bans Actually Improve Productivity?
Not everyone is convinced the results are clear-cut. Adrian Chadi, an associate professor at the University of Southampton, says the evidence supporting phone bans as a productivity tool is far from definitive. His research suggests they may help with simple, routine tasks by reducing distractions, but the picture is murkier for roles that require creativity or problem-solving.
“It is very difficult for researchers to determine the effects of a ban compared to a situation without such a ban in the same organisational context,” Chadi told the Financial Times. “It is also possible that employees will perceive the ban very negatively if using their mobile phone offers obvious advantages at work, [especially] as people have become accustomed to the constant availability of their mobile phones.”
In London, the Royal Court Theatre introduced a similar pouch system for its Writers’ Card program, asking playwrights to lock away their phones at the box office while working, attending talks, and taking part in networking events.
“Writing is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do…particularly when you get to the hard part,” said Will Young, the theatre’s executive director, in comments to The Financial Times. “When you get stuck, it’s easier to reach for a distraction.”
Young noted that the policy has been warmly received by “so many writers [who were] half-amused, half-ashamed” to hand over their devices, adding: “It’s only a small thing, [but] there is something about that commitment [that says] ‘I’m here to work.”
Back in the United States, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon drew attention in November after enforcing a strict no-smartphone rule during company meetings. In a shareholder message, he wrote: “People in meetings all the time who are getting notifications and personal texts or who are reading emails. This has to stop. It’s disrespectful. It wastes time.”
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“If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you’re reading your email or getting notifications, I tell you to close the damn thing. It’s disrespectful,” Dimon further told CNN.
Graham Dugoni, founder and CEO of Yondr, told the Financial Times that his company’s clients now span courts, childcare centres, government agencies, mining operations, and businesses protecting intellectual property.
“The organisations coming to us have usually already tried the honour system,” he said. “What these environments share is the recognition that a phone policy on paper is not the same as a phone-free environment.”
