UK Businesses Not Meeting Flexible Working Demands

UK businesses are failing to meet the flexible working hours demanded by their employees, according to a recent study.

The “State of the Unified Communications and Collaboration Nation” survey reveals that 80 per cent of UK workers believe that flexible working should be an option, but two-thirds of businesses are not providing the correct tools and technologies to enable this.

Read more: Why you seriously need to start thinking mobility

The study, which canvassed the opinion of 1,000 British workers, indicates that many organisations are stunting employee productivity by not catering to their needs.

50 per cent of those surveyed claim that that they would be happier at work if they were able to work remotely, while 48 per cent believe that it would result in increased productivity. C-Level executives offer a similar viewpoint, with 64 per cent agreeing that productivity would increase and 80 per cent arguing that flexible working attracts higher quality candidates.

Bradley Maule-ffinch, director of the UC Group at Imago Techmedia believes that businesses must be more receptive to new technologies if they are to keep pace with the fast moving digital world.

“The workplace is changing dramatically and enterprise mobility is becoming a more pervasive reality,” he said. “The survey shows clear trends that employees are ready for flexible working and that businesses at the very least at C-level realise the need to be more flexible in their offerings to attract the best and brightest digital natives. It is vital businesses stop accepting the status quo, and implement the appropriate technology, to not only solve the immediate business concerns of today but the demands of a new generation of workers and business issues of tomorrow.“

One of the major barriers to increased employee mobility is the added security issues that it brings. 72 per cent of respondents claim that security is the biggest concern if employees use their own devices for work.

Read more: 5 practical ways to enable enterprise mobility

Although the Unified Communications and Collaboration market is growing and is expected to be worth $17.38 billion by 2019, the survey indicates that much more investment is needed in order for businesses to meet employees’ mobility demands.