How smartphones increase productivity

A new survey from CareerBuilder finds employers nearly 20 percent of full-time workers are productive fewer than five hours a day. The cause of that lost productivity? They say smartphones.

We have been here before. First, employers blamed the web for lost productivity. They responded by blocking access to the web, only to open it later when they realized it actually contained work-related content. Later, social media sites were the culprit. Businesses responded, predictably, by blocking access. Now, a quarter of companies are banning personal calls and cell phone use.

Nearly half of employers insist smartphone distractions have compromised work quality, lowered morale as other employees are forced to pick up the slack, negatively impacted relationships between employees and bosses, and led to missed deadlines.

Only 10 percent of employees with smartphones agreed that their productivity has dropped because of phone use, though 66 percent said they use their phones several times during the workday.