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  • 2012
  • Book

Sleeping with Your Smartphone: How to Break the 24-7 Habit and Change the Way you Work

By: Leslie A. Perlow
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Does it have to be this way? Can't resist checking your smartphone or mobile device? Sure, all this connectivity keeps you in touch with your team and the office—but at what cost? In "Sleeping with Your Smartphone," Leslie Perlow reveals how you can disconnect and become more productive in the process. In fact, she shows that you can devote more time to your personal life and accomplish more at work. The good news is that this doesn't require a grand organizational makeover or buy-in from the CEO. All it takes is collaboration between you and your team—working together and making small, doable changes. What started as an experiment with a six-person team at The Boston Consulting Group—one of the world's elite management consulting firms—triggered a global initiative that eventually spanned more than 900 BCG teams in 30 countries across five continents. These teams confronted their nonstop workweeks and changed the way they worked, becoming more efficient and effective. The result? Employees were more satisfied with their work-life balance and with their work in general. And the firm was better able to recruit and retain employees. Clients also benefited—often in unexpected ways. In this engaging book, Perlow takes you inside BCG to witness the challenges and benefits of disconnecting. She provides a step-by-step guide to introducing change on your team—by establishing a collective goal, encouraging open dialogue, ensuring leadership support—and then spreading change to the rest of your firm. If you and your colleagues are grappling with the "always on" problem, it's time to disconnect—and start reading.

Keywords

Time Management; Internet and the Web; Groups and Teams; Performance Productivity; Globalized Firms and Management; Service Industry

Citation

Perlow, Leslie A. Sleeping with Your Smartphone: How to Break the 24-7 Habit and Change the Way you Work. Harvard Business Review Press, 2012.

About The Author

Leslie A. Perlow

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • July–August 2025
    • Harvard Business Review

    How the Busiest People Find Joy

    By: Leslie A. Perlow, Sari Mentser and Salvatore J. Affinito
    • Summer 2025
    • MIT Sloan Management Review

    Time Well Spent: A New Way to Value Time Could Change Your Life

    By: Leslie Perlow and Salvatore J Affinito
    • February 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Michael Rose

    By: Leslie Perlow and Carin-Isabel Knoop
More from the Author
  • How the Busiest People Find Joy By: Leslie A. Perlow, Sari Mentser and Salvatore J. Affinito
  • Time Well Spent: A New Way to Value Time Could Change Your Life By: Leslie Perlow and Salvatore J Affinito
  • Michael Rose By: Leslie Perlow and Carin-Isabel Knoop
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