Survey by Virgin Media Business shows mobile workers think blanket connectivity will shorten working days but will not improve work/life balance
According to research carried out by Virgin Media Business over half of the UK’s mobile workers (54 per cent) believe blanket connectivity on the move would significantly shorten their working day, but do not believe it would improve their work/life balance, as just one in ten said working less hours would improve the way they separate work and private lives.
By the end of 2012, 70 per cent of the UK is expected to have a smart device reliant on mobile connectivity. Due to this trend employees believe increased mobile coverage would provide a secure link to the office to gain quicker access to emails (79 per cent) and deal with emergencies more effectively (46 per cent), though only 16 per cent think it would increase the likelihood of working from home.
Chief operating officer of Virgin Media Business, Tony Grace, commented: “Mobile connections to the internet are getting better by the day,” adding “in time, we’ll be able to check-in at the office, social networking sites, or simply contact friends and family everywhere we go.”
Grace explained that because of this 24 hours demand for data on the move there has been a jumps to “765 billion individual bits of data being transferred every second” on the network “as the lines between our work and personal devices blur, the temptation is to never switch off and constantly check emails or work on a document.”
Grace concluded: “We’re constantly fretting over our smartphone throughout the day and night. Even if we’re shortening our working days by working on the move, it’s actually creating a false economy.
“The key is getting the balance right and enjoying the reassurance that if we do need to read an important email or deal with an emergency on the move, then we can.”