According to a recent study, most people use a personal smartphone while at work. In partnership with OnePulse, TechRadar Pro explores smartphone usage at work. TechRadar Pro commissioned OnePulse to conduct an exclusive poll on smartphone use at the workplace as 2021 draws to a close. Especially when it comes to the use of personal devices at work, smartphone usage is a hot topic due to the trend of hybrid working – or out-and-out remote working. Hybrid working enables us to keep all of the benefits of working remotely, such as a healthier work-life balance and less time spent commuting, while also allowing for some of the work to be collaboratively performed in person.
People are no longer confined to the office desk, where they mostly used a dated Windows PC, and the effects of the changes are still being felt today. Modern smartphones have become entirely integral to industries that didn’t even exist a few years ago, such as social media influencers.
More than three-quarters (73%) of respondents admitted using smartphones for work purposes, the most common reason being e-mail, and the least common reason being Wi-Fi hotspots. An astounding 82% of workers who use smartphones for work use their own personal devices, rather than a company-issued device. Almost half of respondents (46%) reported using their smartphones for work for less than one hour each day, followed by 1-2 hours (28.3%), 2-5 hours (16.8%), and overfill hours (8.9%).
In the future, smartphones will become a toolbox with a multitude of working tools, in addition to serving as a means of communicating in the professional and personal realms.