95% of Workers Remain Connected When Not at Work, iPass Finds

Only 5.9 per cent of workers disconnect from the office while on leave, and 40 per cent have tried in-flight Wi-Fi to keep them connected, a new survey by iPass has found.

The mobile device continues to be a tether creating an on-demand workforce. The majority of respondents (53.6 percent) never truly disconnect from technology. For the 46.4 percent of mobile employees that do on occasion disconnect, their reasons were mostly situational, such as being in a location with poor connectivity. 

Even while on vacation, 94 percent of mobile employees connect to the Internet, and the majority connect for work.

Mobile workers are used to carrying multiple mobile devices. Nearly 97 percent of mobile employees carry two or more mobile devices, and almost 50 percent carried three or more.

Mobile workers use their mobile devices to blend work and personal business. More than 90 percent of employees use their smartphone for both work and personal business. Even among users of consumer devices like the iPad and tablet PC, 91 percent currently use it or plan to use it for work. The line between consumer and business applications has also blurred. Most respondents use email, calendar, text messaging and browsing for both work and personal on their smartphones. The only exception is social media, which is rarely accessed for work.

There is a resurgence of Wi-Fi access among smartphone users. While the majority of smartphone users are choosing Wi-Fi to connect, the primary reason stated (31.8 percent) is because it is faster than 3G.