Why companies should let employees use their personal smartphones for work

A study to be published in June in the International Journal of Information Management set out to look at what happens when employees supplement their employer-issued IT tools with their own consumer technology. What the study found is that employees reported feeling significantly more empowered and more in control, and said their work improved, compared with employees who used just the company tools. The study also observed a strong correlation between respondents’ feelings of IT empowerment and their perceptions of their own innovativeness.

To be sure, it is a small study—only 147 employees—and one based on employees’ self-perceptions. But the observations are worth noting given that more organizations are allowing employees to use their own devices and applications at work—or are considering doing so—especially in the wake of the pandemic when so many people have worked at home.

“IT empowerment is real,” says Iris Junglas, the lead researcher on the study and the Noah T. Leask professor of information management and innovation at the College of Charleston, in Charleston, S.C. “You can empower people with IT in the workplace.”

The data was collected in 2018 as part of more comprehensive research into the impact that consumer-originated technologies can have on businesses. On average, 26.5% of respondents said they were not allowed to use consumer IT within their organization; 25.8% said consumer IT was tolerated; 25.2% said only some consumer IT was allowed; and 22.4% said they worked in an environment where the use of consumer IT was explicitly permitted.

The percentage of people allowed by employers to use their own technology in their work today is likely much higher, Dr. Junglas says, given the numbers of people who have worked at home during the pandemic.

As employers weigh the pros and cons of allowing personal devices and applications at work, they should be mindful of the potential productivity benefits, Dr. Junglas says. The study suggested that IT policies that allow workers to access new tools and technologies, whether supplied by the company or the employees, could encourage innovative work behaviors and increase productivity.