Canadians Want to Redefine the Workplace

November 28, 2013

The workplace as we know it is shifting.

According to the latest Rogers Connected Workplace report conducted by Harris Decima, technology and connectivity is a key driver. The report shows that over half of Canadians, including both Baby Boomers and Generation Y, think that it is important to work with the latest technologies and to do so from anywhere—but they don’t have access to resources or workplace policies to make this a reality.

Looking ahead, these elements will be increasingly important to decisions on future employment.

“It is clear that by making the shift to a more connected workplace, small and large businesses have an opportunity to influence productivity and drive innovation,” says Steve Van Binsbergen, Vice President, Business Segment, Rogers Communications. “Businesses that enable employees to work seamlessly across devices and environments stand ready to improve employee morale and deliver better customer experiences.”

Four major trends emerged from the research:

1. Canadians are willing to sacrifice salary and vacation days to work from anywhere.

One-third of Canadians (33%) say they would sacrifice something (including salary, vacation days and employee benefits) to work remotely and over half (59%) of Canadians agree in the future, flexible work hours and the ability to work from anywhere will be top priorities in their choice of employer

2. Canadians desire access to the latest tech but don’t want to lose face-to-face interactions.

Job satisfaction could increase for almost half (47%) of Canadians if employers provided the latest technology tools and services; baby boomers are just as likely as their Gen Y counterparts to attribute access to the latest technology as being important (70% and 66%, respectively); and almost eight in ten (76%) of Canadians agree collaborative workplaces make them more productive

3. Canadians are willing to erase personal and professional lines.

A quarter of Canadian smartphone users (23%) who carry two smartphones do so because their employer doesn’t allow them to connect their device to the company server, and over half of Canadians (54%) who use their smartphone for personal and professional purposes are comfortable with employer-enforcing security policies

4. Laptops and tablets are future devices of choice for Canadian workers over desktop PCs

Today, Canadians spend the majority of their workday using traditional workplace devices such as desktop computers (45%) and landlines (10%); in the future, Canadians would prefer to use laptops (40%), tablets (15%), and smartphones (10%) as primary work devices.

“Evolving technologies are redefining the Canadian workplace,” says Van Binsbergen.

Perform content is delivered to you by the Techvibes Job Board.