More than half of workers snub desk phones for mobiles
More than half of workers now use their mobile phones in preference to their office landline, marking a new era of remote and flexible working, research has revealed.
The survey by Natterbox, a cloud based voice service provider, has found that 53% of staff conduct more calls on their mobile, signalling the end of the traditional desk phone.
It also revealed that mobile phone usage has now become so commonplace in UK businesses that almost two thirds of employees (64%) said their jobs demand them to take out hours of calls on their mobiles.
Neil Hammerton, CEO at Natterbox, said: 'Mobile phone usage is evidently the way forward for businesses, especially with major events like the Olympics impacting on our working habits year. Flexible working is on the rise and people don't just work from nine until five any longer.'
The research showed that as a consequence staff are taking calls in increasingly unusual places; almost seven out of 10 workers (68%) admitted taking business calls in cafes, with 58% dialling up in restaurants, and 46% in bars. Altogether, 17% said they had taken work calls at a wedding reception and 11% on the golf course.
The survey also revealed a trend for home and mobile working, with more than one in five respondents (21%) working from home at least once a week. More than two thirds of them (68%) said they used their mobiles to do this, compared with just 4% who used a home phone only.
Hammerton continued: 'Business is mobile these days so people need to be available and have more access to information when needed. This is why we advise firms to have measures in place like mobile call recording and integration with CRM systems. Calls need to be logged, archived and available for reporting and analytics, so that key business information isn't lost.
'Companies have monitored web usage and email for years, but increasingly there is a need to track employee telephone activity too, on mobiles and landlines alike.'
