{
  "title": "Customer reception: is a visible phone really neutral?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-telephone-visible-qualite-contact-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-04-29",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "A phone resting on a reception counter does not necessarily interrupt the conversation. Research nevertheless suggests that an absence of interruptions and perceived attentiveness are not the same thing.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lausanne",
    "region": "Vaud",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Andrew Przybylski and Netta Weinstein (2013, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships) experimentally studied conversations with and without a mobile phone present."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Availability also makes demands on attention",
      "point": "Adrian Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy and Maarten Bos (2017, Journal of the Association for Consumer Research) manipulated the location of participants’ smartphones during cognitive tasks."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "It would be excessive to conclude that every visible phone undermines every reception encounter."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these experiments cannot settle",
      "point": "These studies are not evaluations of reception desks in Lausanne and do not directly measure whether requests are resolved."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Lausanne",
      "point": "Within SHR’s « Accueil client » programme, a field exercise could be offered to reception teams in medtech companies, higher education institutions, international sports organisations and scale-ups across the Lake Geneva region: compare similar time slots, first with the usual arrangement and then with unused phones out of sight."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Weinstein",
      "year": "2013",
      "source": "Journal of Social and Personal Relationships"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Bos",
      "year": "2017",
      "source": "Journal of the Association for Consumer Research"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 436,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-04-29-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-telephone-visible-qualite-contact",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-telephone-visible-qualite-contact-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-telephone-visible-qualite-contact-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-telephone-visible-qualite-contact-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/lausanne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/lausanne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}