It’s way easier to get someone’s attention in office
Exactly. Most employees aren’t just sitting around waiting for someone to get their attention. They’re already actively working. And when that work is interrupted, it’s a distraction, and productivity goes down.
Even the mental context switching between the tasks is costly in terms of time lost. Most people can’t just instantly jump back to the original task at the same level of productivity.
By law? Yes, they do. It just isn’t being enforced.
It still causes financial issues though. Banks won’t touch them, for instance.