The Rise in Mobile Workers
Mobile working is becoming increasingly popular within the business world, with many employees able to work out of the office on laptops, tablets and mobile devices whilst staying constantly connected to colleagues and bosses. Despite this increase, a recent study from Aspect Software highlighted the fact that more than 65 per cent of mobile workers feel the pressure to be more productive when working in this way.
Business insight firm International Data Corporation (IDC), has predicted that 1.3 billion people will be working remotely using some form of mobile technology by the year 2015 – that’s a staggering 37.2 per cent of our workforce. What’s more, it seems to be paying off, with many companies reporting an increase of productivity and more motivated employees.
The workplace is definitely changing, with over 70 per cent of UK workers using some form of smart device every day, although businesses have been labelled ‘sluggish’ when it comes to adapting to the new mobile workforce, with only 16 per cent of people involved in the study stating their employer has a clearly defined policy designed around the use of devices. A further 26 per cent claimed to be working under such a policy, and 28 per cent claimed their company did not intend on developing one.
Paul Thomas, Senior VP of Northern Europe at Aspect Software, said: “It is evident employees feel the positive effects of being increasingly connected. Despite the pressure over productivity expectations, it is vital organisations respond, adapt to, and harness this new-found mobile mentality.”
The findings also revealed that 58 per cent of workers believed their own personal productivity would be improved if mobile apps were developed to cater for their specific job roles. With more mobile productivity apps being developed for mobile workers, could this be the future?
Thomas said: “If, for example, a sales force or customer service team uses a CRM tool, they need to have full access to this when they are on the move. Access to these resources – via hosted (cloud) business-focused applications – will allow employees and businesses to effectively harness the increased levels of productivity that mobile working can offer.”
So, there’s definitely potential for increased productivity for employees working either at home or on the go, but is being constantly connected to the office a good thing or a bad one – what do you think? Has your company caught up with mobile technology yet?
Sources: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/features/1076069/the-future-mobile
http://www.callcentrehelper.com/mobile-workers-pressured-to-be-more-productive-61725.htm
