How Better Mobile Connectivity Boosts Efficiency in Hybrid Workforces

Hybrid work has arrived, and it’s here to stay.

Today, deskless workers make up the majority of the global workforce, and almost half (44%) of companies have adopted a hybrid working model.

But while hybrid working has undoubtedly evolved since the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering it effectively is still a challenge for many businesses.

A recent survey found that lack of mobile connectivity is impacting 7 out of 10 hybrid workers. As a result, almost three-quarters have reported both an impact on their productivity (74%) and an increase in stress levels (72%).

So what can businesses do to ensure connectivity, efficiency and productivity for hybrid workers, regardless of where they’re working from?

Why enabling hybrid work matters

The modern workforce places as much emphasis on flexibility and work/life balance as they do on salary, benefits and development.

In fact, almost three-quarters of workers (71%) say a flexible working pattern matters to them when looking for a new job, and among Gen Z and Millennials, two-thirds prefer hybrid and remote work.

Yet it’s not just the employees who stand to benefit from hybrid working arrangements. Improved flexibility has been linked with:

• A better work/life balance
• Fewer distractions
• Reduced burnout
• Employee engagement
• Stronger retention
• Increased innovation

Perhaps most crucially for businesses, 83% of employees felt their productivity had increased as a result of changes in their working arrangements. It’s also been linked with 7% lower costs and 5% fewer employees leaving.

Having the ability to offer flexible working arrangements is clearly something today’s workforce have come to expect. Not only is it what many workers are looking for in their next role, but it also has the power to boost retention among existing employees and save on recruitment costs.

The importance of mobile connectivity

The key to delivering hybrid work in a way that benefits employers and employees alike is by ensuring your teams are connected.

With strong connectivity, your teams can access all of the tools and information they need to remain engaged and productive, whether they’re working in the office, at home or out in the field.

This connectivity can also empower them to produce higher-quality work by reducing downtime and helping them to manage their time more efficiently.

To put it simply, connectivity can help them realise the benefits of hybrid working.

However, hybrid working doesn’t just involve laptops – for many hybrid and deskless workers, it also requires the use of mobile devices.

Smartphones play a crucial role in keeping employees connected to teams, clients and customers. Often a more portable and versatile option than a laptop, they’re essential for facilitating real-time communication and collaboration.

Ensuring your workers have the connectivity they need on these devices, no matter their location, can help you go one step further in delivering a hybrid model that works, both for your teams and your business.

The role of technology in facilitating the hybrid future

There have been great strides in flexible working since many were forced to adopt the model during the pandemic. Today, there are tools that can not only help facilitate hybrid working, but actively make workers even more efficient.

One challenge businesses often encounter with flexible work is updating and maintaining oversight of their team’s remote devices. With the use of unified device management, organisations can roll out updates across mobiles, even when they’re not in use, to ensure operational issues are minimised.

Unified communication tools are also playing a key role in fostering collaboration, allowing teams to access the same communications tools and workflows via different devices.

Technology is also helping to address another major challenge of hybrid and remote working: security. Along with the risk of employees losing the mobile device itself, there’s also the chance that the sensitive personal or company information they’re accessing could be exposed.

Hybrid and flexible working have been cited as the catalysts for a rise in data breaches over the last two years, and almost a third (32%) of remote and hybrid workers use applications that aren’t approved by their security teams.

Thanks to new security measures like triple authentication security and centralised management platforms, workers can securely access the information and documents they need, while IT teams can ensure they have visibility to identify, analyse and defend against potential risks.

How Virgin Media O₂ Business and Samsung can help

Virgin Media O₂ Business, in partnership with Samsung, offers comprehensive mobile connectivity solutions. With fast and reliable mobile connectivity, your teams can operate continuously without disruption from different locations, helping them realise the benefits of flexible working in a way that fosters great collaboration and productivity.

And, thanks to robust security and monitoring tools, you can maintain oversight of these devices to be confident they’re safe and secure while doing so.

Empowered by these tools, your hybrid workforce will have the connectivity and technology it needs to stay secure, productive and collaborative in any environment.