The phenomenon of “phubbing,” is when a supervisor snubs an employee in favor of his mobile phone when they are in a meeting. Two Baylor professors have verified that this behavior undermines trust and engagement in the workplace. In fact, their study, “Put down your phone and listen to me: How boss phubbing undermines the psychological conditions necessary for employee engagement,” found that behavior as simple as phubbing can undermine an employee’s success.
Source: Washington Post, January 4, 2018 (paywall).
The researchers found that boss phubbing negatively impacts employees’ trust in their supervisor, which in turn negatively affects the employee’s feeling that their work is meaningful, that they have the necessary resources to do their job, and that they are in a safe working environment. All this in turn leads to decreased employee engagement and productivity.
INSIGHTS: As this article points out, distracted supervisors are not new. It is, however, an excellent reminder that conversations with employees – and bosses, customers, sales personnel and any other individual – deserve our full attention to be most effective. Put down the phone for a few seconds. It’ll be there when the conversation ends.