A staggering 80% of Manchester employees have admitted that they feel chained to their desks experiencing a ‘lost decade’ of mobility, according to latest reports.
Businesses in Manchester also had one of the highest levels of ‘presenteeism’, coming to work while sick, with 68% of employees braving an illness.
According to the report by Deloitte and EE, Manchester-based businesses have suffered a ‘lost decade’ of mobility, with only a fifth of employees equipped to work efficiently out of the office.
With such drastic levels of presenteeism, companies located in Manchester will have considerable difficulty overcoming business mobility.
Mike Mclean, 53, a retired firefighter from Altrincham, said: “With the current economic situation it is extremely difficult to make sure everybody in the office is up to date.
“It takes a lot of time and money and sometimes businesses can’t commit to changes straight away.”
Around 78% of workers born after 1980 highly value the use of mobile technology within their company, meaning we are likely to see a significant change in these statistics.
However with the appointment of the UK’s first FTSE CEO under 33-years-old by 2016 there should be a complete transformation in workplace culture.
Gerry McQuade, Chief Marketing Office for Business at EE, said: “Workers born after 1980 makes up half the British workforce and it’s essential that we constantly adapt our processes and the technology that enable our employees to work more productively and efficiently.”
These upcoming leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated by the absence of mobility in businesses, especially in Manchester.
Karl Harrison, a 23-year-old surveyor from Greater Manchester, said: “It’s essential to be mobile in this day of age.
“It increases productivity as you are able to work whilst commuting and can reduce office space which means the company can save money.”
Around 61% of employees say they’d be more productive if they could be more mobile and a further 61% say it would increase job satisfaction.
This proves that Manchester needs a serious update with greater use of the latest technology to enable employees to respond quicker and increase productivity.
Deloitte mentions in the report: “We are approaching the point of ‘mobility watershed’.
“Future leaders will demand that organisations make use of mobility in a way that is not evident today.”
With 49% of Manchester employees feeling frustrated that they can’t use mobile technologies fully for work purposes it is obvious that a technical revolution is needed to allow employees to work whenever and wherever they like.
Picture courtesy of Ray in LA via Flickr, with thanks.
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