Business Info - issue132 - page 11

01732 759725
magazine
11
AGENDA
Lost signal, lost workforce
A quarter (25%) of British office workers
say they would consider moving jobs, or
already have done so, due to a lack of
mobile coverage in their building, according
to research from UK communications
infrastructure company Arqiva.
The survey of 1,000 UK office workers
reveals that half of respondents (49%) have
experienced poor mobile coverage (i.e. dropped
calls or lack of a signal) within their office
building. Of these, almost three quarters
(72%) say this happens every week, while 25%
experience it daily.
Younger workers are particularly intolerant
of the growing problem, with the number of
respondents willing to leave their job from
generations X and Y rising to over a third
(35%).
When respondents were asked who they
think is accountable for mobile coverage
issues, the vast majority (90%) cited their
mobile network. However, responsibility was
also distributed amongst a number of other
parties including the device itself (70%), the
IT manager (42%) and the building designer
(41%).
Commenting on what businesses can do to
tackle office signal black spots and retain their
workforce, John Lillistone, head of products
and telecoms at Arqiva, said: “Effective and
consistent indoor mobile coverage relies on
far-travelling, uninterrupted signal, but modern
buildings are filled with materials that act as
radio signal barriers, i.e. metallised insulation,
steel frames or treated glass. As we move
towards 5G, there will be more interruptions as
the higher frequencies will mean shorter signal
range.
“Employers need to start considering
indoor coverage as a fifth utility, making it
a key consideration when selecting office
space, and challenging business owners to
make provisions to boost the signal within
their owned building. Ask them what plans
they have in place to ensure quality mobile
coverage.
“This could be achieved through a number
of technology solutions, including distributed
antenna systems (DAS), small cells, or a
mixture of the two.
“Mobile coverage should always be checked
before any agreement is given by a business
to move into a building. The best way to do
this is simply to visit the location and check
the signal using a mobile phone – it might
be worth doing this with several phones
bearing in mind that the signal will vary by
network operator. There is also a really useful
organisation calledWiredScore which gives
buildings a score based on their connectivity.
“In general, there needs to be acceptance
that mobile coverage is not solely the
responsibility of the mobile operator. Everyone
needs to work together to make sure the
coverage is what it needs to be. As it stands,
many buildings are developed today without
the mobile operators even knowing about
them so when 50 staff move in it can often be
beyond the capacity of the current network.”
Phone box of the future
New digital street units providing free public wifi with
ultrafast speeds of up to 1Gbps and free phone calls have
appeared on Camden High Street in London.
The units, called InLinks, will replace some of BT’s existing
payphones in the capital, thanks to a new partnership between BT
and Intersection, a leading UK outdoor advertising company.
Other services available from the InLinks will include mobile
device charging, access to maps, directions and local services, and
a new BT Phone Book app enabling users to search for businesses
and people. InLinks’ digital displays will feature real-time
information, such as tube service updates, weather forecasts and
community messaging.
in brief
Ban buzzwords
Almost three quarters of UK workers (74%)
think that people who regularly use office
jargon, such as ‘drill down’ and ‘touch
base’, do so to sound more professional or
intelligent. In a survey by CV Library, 70%
said they would like to scrap buzzwords
completely.
Smoking breaks
Two thirds (66%) of non-smoking office
workers believe it is unfair that their
colleagues who smoke take ‘additional’
breaks throughout the day, a survey by
Vapourlites.com shows. More than half (58%)
think that those who smoke during normal
working hours should be made to ‘clock’ or
‘record’ their smoking breaks, while 44%
think smoking breaks are often ‘disruptive’,
especially when working in teams.
Quality of working life
Nearly eight in ten (77%) managers work for
at least an additional hour each day, adding
up to an extra 29 days over the course of a
year, according to Chartered Management
Institute’s
Quality of Working Life
study.With
average holiday entitlement of only 28 days,
this extra time cancels out managers’ annual
leave.
Lack of digital skills hits
productivity
A lack of digital skills among the UK
workforce is causing problems in the
boardroom and contributing to low
productivity, research commissioned by
Barco ClickShare and conducted by Vanson
Bourne suggests.
The global study of 1,250 IT decision-makers
reveals that the UK has the biggest skills gap,
with 65% of UK IT professionals stating that
employees ask for IT assistance because they are
not digitally savvy enough (65%). Almost half of
UK respondents (45%) claim employees don‘t
believe it is their job to deal with technology
problems. Boardroom technology was cited as
the biggest IT challenge facing companies, both
in the UK and globally. The average company
experiences 11 problems every week, taking more
time to resolve than any other IT issue.
George Stromeyer, senior vice president of
the Enterprise Division at Barco, said: “If you are
going to tackle productivity, you need to get a
handle on the basics. Meetings are critical, yet
we routinely put up with them being delayed by
tech issues. Ten minutes wasted at the start of
a meeting may sound insignificant, but across
every meeting taking place in every UK company,
that’s hundreds of thousands of hours and
billions of pounds wasted.”
1...,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,...44
Powered by FlippingBook