two-thirds of Canadian employees already do some of their work each week outside the office

More than two-thirds of Canadian employees already do some of their work each week outside the office. And that trend is destined to grow over the next four years as mobile devices proliferate and employers encourage their use, a new study projects.

Krista Napier, senior analyst for mobility at International Data Corp. Canada, discusses how mobile devices are changing the way people work and the implications of the trend for the future.

In IDC Canada’s Canadian Mobile Worker 2012–2016 Forecast, they found that mobile work is already the new norm. The Canadian mobile worker population is set to increase from 12.1 million in 2012, accounting for 68.9 per cent of employed Canadians, to 13.3 million in 2016, or 73 per cent of the work force.
IDC defined a mobile worker as someone who is not always working at a desk. They could be a travelling executive, a sales rep, a field worker, a telecommuter or someone who works on location or just logs in to work from a coffee shop. Not all mobile workers own a mobile device but, increasingly, people are using their own rather than having the company provide one.

What do you find the most intriguing finding of your research?
Small companies were the most likely to have mobile workers, compared with their larger counterparts. In a recent survey of Canadian companies, IDC asked what percentage of their work force was mobile. The results showed small companies were more likely to be away from their office at some level, in the field or on location, or working from home at least three days of the week.

The Future of Work