Growth of mobile workforce 'driven by older and younger workers'

Date: 08/02/2012 15:49:23

The growth of the mobile workforce has been predicted to come from the opposite ends of the workforce, as different age groups seek to embrace the possibility of working away from the office for different reasons.

Offering his overview on the changes that are being seen across the workforce, Dr Graeme Codrington, futurist at Tomorrowtoday.uk.com, said that remote working could be used for a variety of reasons that would be of benefit to all employees.

He explained that working away from the office has benefits in reducing office space, with additional efficiency gains also to be seen as there will be a reduction in commuting time for members of staff.

Research into remote working has found there are benefits to not having to spend long periods of time travelling to and from the office for workers.

In addition, offering the chance for flexibility will also have benefits for companies as well as the workforce, as this has been shown in studies to be very appealing to members of staff and can help with both recruitment and staff retention.

When considering how these changes will be implemented to become a standard part of the workforce, Dr Codrington explained that they are likely to be brought in gradually as members of staff look to spend more time at home as they work towards retirement.

"In other words, they're going to get a taste for remote working and they're probably going to like it. My prediction is that remote working will be driven as much by older generations as younger. For different reasons, they will all want the same thing - and that means it will happen at pace," the expert stated.

The development of new technology is also likely to have an impact on how the modern workforce operates, with Dan Shey, enterprise practice director at ABI Research, recently noting that both smartphones and tablet devices will help staff to be more productive.