Mobile Workforce Report

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Mobile Workforce Survey Results:

Section 2: Mobile Worker Lifestyle

Beyond smartphone penetration, we wanted to examine how smartphones were being used by the mobile workforce. Were employees leaving their laptops in the office and just using their smartphones on their off time? Did they see any devices replacing the laptop for general business use? We found that the laptop is becoming the new desktop that is being left in the office, while the smartphone and tablet are becoming the new laptop – since it is much easier to be mobile on these devices.

We also asked whether mobile employees used their smartphones for just work or just personal reasons, or took a blended approach. In last quarter’s iPass Mobile Workforce Report, we found that the majority of mobile workers had a blended approach to mobile technology – they moved easily between work and personal activities on a single device.

This quarter’s survey respondents were similar. Across all age groups, if the devices were provided by their employers, mobile workers comfortably used them for work as well as personal activities. However, we did find that liability (who actually pays for the device) had a direct effect on how the mobile worker used the device.

Recommendations for IT:
Enterprises need to figure out how to tap into the extensive smartphone adoption by younger workers. Corporate policies that make it easy for employees to check corporate email from their smartphone is a good place to start.

Smartphone Usage
Considering the penetration of smartphones across the mobile workforce, we asked whether mobile employees left their laptops at the office in the evening or during the weekends and just used their smartphones or other devices. Nearly half (43.5 percent) did leave their laptops at work at least occasionally.

Figure 11: Do you leave your work laptop at work on weekends/evenings and just use your smartphone?

When we looked at data by age group, we found that workers younger than age 34 (56.5 percent) were more likely to leave their laptops at the office and use their smartphones than workers older than age 55 (34.4 percent).

Figure 12: Do you leave your work laptop at work on weekends/evenings and just use your smartphone? (By age group)

Replacing the Laptop for General Business Use
Interestingly, 13.2 percent of mobile employees had already used an iPad or a tablet for work that wasn’t supported by their IT departments. We wondered whether mobile employees saw the utility of this or another device usurping that of a laptop for general business purposes within the next year. A surprising 37.2 percent of workers thought a device would soon take that role, and 27.4 percent believed it would be the iPad or another tablet.

Figure 13: Do you think any device available today or in the next year can replace the laptop for general business use?

When we asked how the smartphone was used, we found that the majority of mobile workers used their smartphone (no matter the model) for a combination of business and personal use (58.9 percent).

Interestingly, when we looked at market share for smartphones at work (those who used their smartphone for either all work or some work), we found that 37.8 percent of mobile workers used a BlackBerry, 23.4 percent used an iPhone, 11.9 percent used a Nokia Symbian, 9.3 percent used an Android, and 9.0 percent used a Windows Mobile device.

On the flipside, market share for personally used (either all personal or some personal) smartphones was led by the iPhone with 32.7 percent of mobile employees, followed by the BlackBerry at 25.4 percent, the Android at 12.8 percent, Symbian at 11.6 percent, and Windows Mobile at 8.7 percent.

Figure 14: Do you use your smartphone for personal reasons, business reason, or both?

Looking across age groups, we found that a surprising 56.2 percent of the 22 to 34 year old group took a dedicated approach to their smartphone use – using their smartphones for just personal (35.2 percent) or just business (21.0 percent). This is compared to the larger group where only 41.1 percent had a dedicated approach – using their smartphones for just personal (21.8 percent) or just work (19.4 percent).

To explain this finding, we found that 66.0 percent of mobile workers used their smartphones for work if they were footing the bill – 25.0 percent of those age 22 to 34, 33.0 percent of those 35 to 44, 49.0 percent of those age 45 to 54, and 70.0 percent of those age 55 to 64. Since the 22 to 34 age group was less likely to have a company issued smartphone, the number that used their personally owned smartphones for work corresponded to this trend.