The effects of using mobile and smart devices at work

Abstract

As a result of the epidemic sweeping the world, technologies and tools have been integrated into everyone's lives and work, which employers use and exploit in the course of their work. Numerous studies have been conducted on the labor market effects, positive and negative consequences of mobile devices. The impact of smartphones on work-life balance is now unquestionable, as employees use their phones in the workplace to deal with their private affairs as well as their work tasks in their free time, they cannot exclude their work tasks by tracking their e-mails and reading messages, by detecting or even receiving incoming corporate calls and messages. International studies (Miller-Merrell, 2012; Anderson, 2010) mention the positive effects of using smart devices in the workplace, the faster flow of information, or even the lower time and cost of exchanging information. Face-to-face meetings can be triggered by video conferencing, e-mail, messages. The place to work has become flexible in many cases; we can participate in a video conference from home or a café in the same way as sitting in the workplace. Another positive effect is employee satisfaction with allowing their mobile phones (Noell, 2014). Increases in working time to the detriment of privacy, ongoing stress, and declining productivity are often cited as negative effects (Bozeman, 2011; Ebelhar, 2009; Rush, 2011; Smith, 2012; Economist 2019; Morris 2015). In this paper, the authors examine the opinion and experiences of employees on this topic in Hungary.