A recent study by cloud provider Citrix has revealed that those small businesses that allow their employees to work outside traditional office environs are seeing productivity increase by as much as thirty percent. These gains are being driven through the adopting of mobile work styles that free up employees to work whenever and wherever they choose. The research also indicated that the increase in productivity is expected to rise.
As Brett Caine, senior VP and general manager of the online services division at Citrix, observed, “It’s great to see a ‘work anywhere, with anyone’ environment delivering such big improvements in productivity…and that the demand for flexible work continues to grow.”
Because most employees already use their own smartphones, tablets, and laptops for combined business purposes, more than forty percent of those companies surveyed think providing this type of mobile flexibility will stave off the drop in productivity that they usually see during the summer. An earlier study conducted by Intelligent Office showed that employees who are out of the office use their mobile devices to work independently, or to work while traveling or holding meetings.
The study also showed that small businesses are facing a steady increase in pressure to provide a more flexible working environment, with the most significant push coming from employees themselves rather than from budgetary or productivity concerns, or to gain a competitive edge.
References:
Brooks, Chad. “Work Anywhere’ is Working for Small Business,” BusinessNews Daily. June 7, 2013.
Brooks, Chad. “Most Employees Take the Office on the Road,” BusinessNews Daily. Oct. 22, 2012.
