60 percent office-based employees will regularly work from home by 2022

HYDERABAD, INDIA: Research commissioned by Polycom shows that in addition to technology advancements, employees are actively shaping the environments of the workplace of the future.

One of the top business objectives for all organizations is to better enable the workforce through the right tools and technology solutions, allowing employees the flexibility to work from anywhere.

According to the study conducted by Virgin Media Business, China is the most advanced country in allowing and enabling staff to work from any location, on any device (69 percent), closely followed by the United States (63 percent). The study also showed that these nations lead the world at 48 percent of companies in each country – well above the global average of 29 percent.

More than 90 percent of employees in the US work remotely at least once a week with Virgin Media Business predicting that globally, 60 percent of office-based employees will regularly work from home by 2022.

Other key statistics from the study include:

•    Nine out of 10 of generation Y identify flexibility in the workplace as a top priority

•    Two out of three of the world’s most effective leaders are unwilling to re-locate

•    Sixty nine percent say remote working is critical to relieving work-related stress

•    30 million people work from home in the US— a number that Virgin Media Business predicts to increase by 63 percent by  2020

According to Sir Cary Cooper, Professor, Organizational Psychology and Health, Manchester Business School, the future worker has three key criteria for their technology whether at home or at work: flexibility, autonomy and ease of use. The result will increase productivity and job enjoyment.