Coworker watches content on his phone all day

Question

I work at a software company. I have a coworker who props up his phone most of the day, watching stuff while he works such as video game streamers, or cooking shows, or whatever. He's trying to give the appearance that he's working while having the content on in the background, but a lot of times, its hard to tell if he's working or just watching stuff. He would be a great employee otherwise, and he works a lot of hours (unpaid overtime), though my impression is that the total hours he "effectively" works is probably close to regular hours (or less).

I am occasionally (recently) responsible for assigning tasks to this employee. My impression is that the task(s) would have been completed sooner had he not been working (what I believe to be) more slowly by being distracted by his phone. For example, I go over to check on his progress and he is very obviously looking at his phone, and then makes a comment about the show and jumps back to his work.

Should I approach him about this behavior? I'm one of the leads on the team, though not his direct boss, but I am one of the ones who is asked to give feedback on his performance occasionally. I'm concerned he isn't operating as efficiently as he could be, so when I'm asked to give feedback on him, it puts me in a tough spot.

Why do I care? I care about him as a person. I've known him for a few years now and I like him, but since he is the only one in the office that does this, I think it negatively affects his image and opportunities for advancement. He's complained in the past about being stuck at a lower level than he'd like, but I can't help but feeling like his "professionalism" at work contributes to it.

My goal is not to get him in trouble or scold him, but just to suggest that perhaps this behavior creates a bad impression of him. At the same time, I'm really worried about demotivating him or it backfiring, since I do value him as an employee.

Update: So I ended up going to talk with the coworker. I had previously made a snarky comment related to him watching his phone at work. After reading these responses here, I felt pretty bad, and felt pretty bad about my tone in general. I pulled him aside to apologize. He ended up sharing with me some pretty rough things that were going on outside of work these past few weeks, and that he himself was concerned that his lower performance recently was noticed by everyone on the team. Long story short, I felt it was a good conversation, and I was reminded that you never know whats going on with someone and to never judge the situation just by the appearance of it.

Answer 1

Should I approach him about this behavior?

I would only do this if this person is falling behind on their tasks, or their work quality worsens.

You just said that this person is a "good employee otherwise, and he works a lot of hours", so I take it that this person actually works hard and delivers their tasks on time. If this is true, I see no reason why to approach him right now.

I must say that it seems you are assuming what this coworker is doing on their phone, when it could well be that he is chatting with some client, or reading IM or emails on their phone (not necessarily idling).

If you still decide to approach this person, try to understand what they are doing on their phone first, before taking for granted that they are idling or losing their time (this person may get offended if you "accuse" them of idling before finding out what's the truth).

Answer 2

I don't know the psychological term for this but when I was in university studying computer science I developed a bad habit of always playing random repetitive games on my phone or laptop while listening to lectures, things like minesweeper or tetris. The lecture had my full attention and I found without this I would feel jittery and not be able to concentrate.

I carried this on into the workplace and although I don't watch lectures anymore I do like to divide my attention to other things while my code is compiling or if my brain "overheats".

To a casual observer I'm barely working, often on my phone.

But my work output is more than two of my peers put together.

There's another guy on the floor who looks like he's playing flash games on his laptop a lot. He's one of the brightest guys who does excellent work.

If he's working well leave him alone, concentrate on his productivity rather than how he achieves it.

Answer 3

Not to be rude, but you should probably just mind your own business. You've stated the following:

1. He works close to if not his full 40 hours per week .
2. He delivers his work on time.
3. His work is of acceptable quality.
4. You're not his direct supervisor.

Does he smoke and go for 10 small smoke breaks a day? Does he take extended lunch or coffee breaks? Does he disappear from his desk for no apparent reason? If you answered no to these questions, it sounds like your colleague who you don't manage is a pretty decent employee.

Answer 4

Unless this person is noticeably underperforming relative to the prevailing standards and norms of the team, no, I would not bring it up.

It's up to your management, and perhaps you, to judge what he produces, not how he produces it.

It is not at all uncommon for people, especially in a technical field, to use an audio/visual distraction to block everything else.

Additionally, if you enforce this with him, you have to be prepared to include the entire team and all forms of audio/visual content. Meaning, if Joe can't watch YouTube, Jamie can't listen to Spotify.

From your Answer, this is where you should draw your conclusion:

"total hours he "effectively" works is probably close to regular hours"

If that's the case, I don't see an actual problem here.

Answer 5

I am very much like this guy. I own my own business and work long hours. Having a show playing in front of me helps me to be vastly more productive. If I turn everything off and try to just focus on one thing, I end up endlessly switching between one task and another and accomplishing very little in any of them. If I put a show on and can listen to it, I end up cranking through a lot more work in a day than I could without. But those hours of intense work come with the need to stop every so often and just wander around the office or finish watching an episode without working.

There are times that it can become distracting, and I've learned to recognize when maybe I need to switch to music or an audio podcast. A lot of times I'll be 10 or more episodes into a show before I know what one of the main characters looks like. Just having the moving image in front of me accompanied with the sound of the show is enough distraction for my mind to focus on the task I'm supposed to be doing. It's kind of the adult version of giving the hyperactive kid in class an exercise ball to sit on. My high school chemistry teacher hated that I spent every lecture playing tetris on a graphing calculator, but he never told me to stop because I could always answer any question he threw at me.

So my advice is, if he's getting the work done on deadline, then let him be. Just maybe give him a gentle reminder that he needs to make sure it's helping him get stuff done and not being a distraction.

Answer 6

As the saying goes,

PROGRAMMING IS THINKING NOT WRITING

If he's performing, it's none of your business, and if he's not on your team, it's not your business.

Since you don't know him you have no idea if he's a lazy underperformer, or a savant that has done things like deliver projects months early with very happy end users.

Don't risk kicking over the beehive for something that might not be a problem.

Answer 7

When you come to review his performance you should be looking at the quality of his code and his overall contributions to the team:

• Does his work incur technical debt?
• Does he take longer than others to complete tasks?

By raising this as an issue you risk:

• Demotivating him
• Potentially losing a good employee
• Losing respect from co-workers & management

If he's doing a good job leave him alone, you shouldn't worry how he works.

Answer 8

I have noticed that you have received a lot of responses that accept and defend your colleague’s behaviour, some of which go so far as to make you question the truth of your own observations.

One of the things not addressed here is employee burnout and attention span. Your colleague may be getting his work done, but is also spending a lot of time in the office. This can mentally shift a worker’s feeling about their work environment and tire them out more quickly. Resentment may also be soon to follow if the employee feels like they aren’t being compensated or recognized for their time commitment to the job.

It is not something you definitely need to bring up in a professional manner, but I do recommend casually suggesting that there are activities outside of the office that might be fulfilling. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

Answer 9

If a software developer makes his or her deadlines, you should let him or her do it however they see fit. Here's why. Software isn't making widgets on an assembly line, no matter how people try to make it that way; it's more like writing a book. You can easily get programmer's block throughout the day. Also, for me, the best solutions to the hardest problems usually occur to me when I'm NOT at work sitting in front of a computer.

Finally, there's burnout. If you get it, you're about useless for a good 6 months. Each person manages burnout in their own way.

Answer 10

1. Keep in mind that divided attention is not necessarily decreased attention. For example, fidgeting and doodling are correlated with productivity and recall.

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882127,00.html

Doodling ... requires very few executive resources but just enough cognitive effort to keep you from daydreaming, which — if unchecked — will jump-start activity in cortical networks that will keep you from remembering what's going on. Doodling forces your brain to expend just enough energy to stop it from daydreaming but not so much that you don't pay attention.

2. Ongoing issues outside the workplace are distractions, and it's impractical to willpower those concerns away. Watching video alongside work could be a soothing activity. https://www.fastcompany.com/90262521/the-case-against-fighting-to-stay-focused-at-work

Unconscious distractions, such as worrying about paying your mortgage, or concerns about the health of a family member, may not always be top of mind, but are happening unconsciously. These thoughts can become unhealthy distractions, activating your brain’s fear center without you being aware of it.

3. Many kinds of diversions are coping mechanisms for cognitive dysfunctions, diagnosed or not. A common ADHD symptom is difficulty in focusing on one task, ameliorated by strategically dividing attention. Anecdotally, I'm listening to music and fidgeting as I write this. https://www.additudemag.com/focus-factors/

According to Zentall, an activity that uses a sense other than that required for the primary task — listening to music while reading a social studies textbook — can enhance performance in children with ADHD. Doing two things at once, she found, focuses the brain on the primary task.

A fair question is whether watching something on a phone is a helpful diversion or a distraction. Neurodiversity is an intensely individual experience, you can only measure your co-worker's output, rather than their working methods. You wouldn't raise concerns about a co-worker's preference of IDE, even if you feel Vim would hypothetically be so much more efficient. I hope.

In summary: Decide whether you are concerned about their productivity or their appearance of productivity. If the former, it sounds like they're already meeting their goals, and you don't need to do anything.

If the latter, make it clear that you respect whatever techniques work for them. The only reason to bring it up is if you want to help them avoid misunderstandings with management or teammates. Be supportive!

Answer 11

I like to take an objective, step by step approach to deciding when to take action for situations like this. Firstly, you need to ask yourself the by-the-book questions regarding the norms and structures in your workplace:

1. Is there any company policy regarding personal phone use during business hours? Many employers mention personal phone use during business hours in their employee handbook, IT policies, or other policies. If you're unsure about any policy, look or ask. Even in the absence of policy specifically on personal phone use, there may be policy on wifi use, if he's using the company wifi to get his content on his phone.
2. Do you have responsibility for the employee's performance? You implied you did by mentioning that you give feedback for his performance review, but it's important to follow structure any time performance feedback is given. If you are not directly responsible for the employee, it's probably better to let the person who is handle matters like this. When disciplinary feedback is given outside of official hierarchy lines, it makes for messy situations that usually end poorly.

Assuming those two questions still leave you without a clear direction, you can ask yourself further clarifying questions before deciding to take action:

1. Does the distraction impact his work quality? Pretty straightforward, and probably the most common evaluation people would make. Quality impacts can come in many forms: bad work product, late work product, work product that incurs some issue down the road (ie "technical debt" for software developers). However, this shouldn't be the only question you ask. It can be difficult to determine if a specific action is causing an impact to someone's performance (especially in light of common, and legitimate, claims that "background distractions" can help some people focus better), so it helps to instead take a holistic view of performance, and take action only if there are issues - versus trying to attribute performance (or lack thereof) to some specific thing.
2. Does the distraction impact others' work quality? Ask the same questions, but of the peer group: Even if the distraction allows him to indirectly concentrate on his own tasks, it's possible that him having his phone out all the time may be distracting others in a negative manner. Even consider yourself - you're clearly spending time thinking about this, so there's already at least some impact.
3. Does the distraction cause a safety or security risk? Watching content on his own personal phone using it's own cell data connection probably doesn't. But, watching content on his work laptop might present a security issue, depending on the content and the source. Regarding safety, it's probably not an issue for someone sitting at their desk, but for someone responsible for doing or monitoring physical activity or safety, it would be a big issue - ie an equipment operator or security guard would obviously not be able to perform their job while staring at youtube.

Answer 12

For this situation, since you already know him, here is what you do:

Take him out to lunch in a friendly, non offical way. In the middle of the meal,say something like this:

"I've been wanting to talk to you for awhile now. Normally, this is none of my business, but since our boss has asked me to assign tasks and follow up on them, I've noticed you've been on your phone a lot. I know you put in extra hours, but I think it still hurts how well you do your work. I would feel very guilty having to report this to our boss. Do you see where I am coming from?"

Let him answer, and he will give a lot of excuses. DO NOT get side tracked, you will only start argueing. Redirect the conversation and stick to the point, Respond by saying:

"Yeah, I can understand your perspective. But,I still feel I will have to bring this up if our boss asks how things are going. let me ask this: would you be willing to try turning the screen off, and just listen to music or podcasts?"

The very last part is important, it gives your coworker an option, an out. It's a fair compromise to try.

If it continues, do exactly what you said you would do: ONLY If your boss asks how progress is being made, tell him your concerns.