An increasing number of British workers are using personal devices for work, pointing to a shift in work habits.
- 35% of Brits continue work tasks on personal devices outside office hours.
- 18% prefer their personal devices during travel due to superior functionality.
- The French ‘right to disconnect’ law garners support from 65% of Brits.
- GDPR compliance remains a challenge, with 46% unaware of data protection laws.
In an evolving work culture, more British employees are extending their work into personal time, leveraging personal mobile phones to manage tasks beyond standard hours. The growing trend is underscored by a report revealing that 35% of Brits use personal devices for work-related tasks after hours. This indicates a significant shift toward flexible, albeit intrusive, work practices.
A notable 18% of respondents prefer using personal devices when traveling for work, citing better functionality compared to their assigned work phones. This highlights a preference for the advanced features and familiarity of personal devices over potentially limited work-provided technology.
There’s considerable support among British workers for adopting the ‘right to disconnect,’ a concept already embraced by employers in France, where companies with over 50 employees are required to establish guidelines to deter out-of-hours communication. A compelling 65% of Brits favor implementing similar policies in the UK, indicating a collective desire to mitigate the ‘always-on’ culture.
Despite the convenience of using personal devices, compliance with GDPR regulations remains a daunting task. Alarmingly, 46% of workers who use their devices for work are unaware of these crucial data protection laws, inadvertently risking breaches. The onus is on employers to ensure that employees understand these responsibilities, especially in the context of increasing mobile device usage for work.
Certain professions exhibit a higher tendency to work outside official hours. Emergency services and accounting professionals are among the most likely to engage in work tasks during non-working hours, with emergency services showing an 80% engagement rate during lunch breaks. This persistent blurring of work-life boundaries underscores the sector-specific challenges in adhering to work-life balance.
The integration of personal devices in work practices reflects a broader trend towards flexibility, yet presents challenges in data privacy and work-life balance.
