Distracted Employees Cost You Twice

With the emergence of smartphones, coupled with the surge of mobile applications employees have been conditioned to frequently check social media, online news sources and, when bored, stream video and play easily accessible mobile games. While multi-tasking is commonly considered a desirable attribute, when that skill is being used to commingle personal and business activities on company time it costs companies twice in not only lost productivity but unneeded data charges.

The Double Liability

When an employee is using work time to consume mobile data by using or viewing mobile apps, not only is productive time lost, but mobile data costs escalate. While the average cost of mobile data has declined in recent years, with increased usage, the total cost of data is dramatically increasing. The result; companies are funding unproductive time with unneeded mobile data which has become a double liability.

Cell Phones are the Top Distraction

A recent study by CareerBuilder found 52% of the 2,000 respondents surveyed cited cell phones as the most common distraction of business activity. The estimated amount of time wasted during the day depended on several factors: the industry in which they worked, the employee’s role in the organization and even the level of their education. Those with a high school education or less were more inclined to waste time on cell phones than those with an Associate’s degree or higher.

In a similar study conducted by Paychex, the amount of time wasted also varied based on industry and role. The study found 17% of workers in the utilities industry admitted to wasting three or more hours each day with 52% in the skilled labor category and 45.6% of middle management admitting to wasting less than one hour per work day. The details of these two studies are compelling enough that it should act as a wake-up call for companies to focus on solutions to minimize time waste especially when corporate provided mobile devices are involved.

Data Analytics as a Deterrent

If you aren’t using data analytics from your carrier invoices to identify employee productivity problems, you should be. Understanding patterns can lead to appropriate intervention and dramatically minimize the effects of distracted employees. MobilSense has a long history of empowering management through sophisticated analytics that make complex and extensive data associated with wireless invoices actionable and easy to understand. Companies who harness this information have the ability to identify workers who use excessive amounts of data then provide guidance by directing them to review company priorities and policies which makes a significant difference in overall mobile spending.

Contact MobilSense today to learn how you can minimize your company’s mobile liability.

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