Page 59 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

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38 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

Facts and Figures
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the proportion
of U.S. workers taking advantage of flexible work schedules
has more than doubled since 1985, and now represents 25
million workers, or 27.6 percent of the full-time workforce.
Further, the increase in flexibility is widespread across de-
mographic groups, with little difference in the numbers of
men and women taking advantage of flexible schedules.
A 2004 study for the International Telework Association
and Council (ITAC) by Dieringer Research Group reports that
the number of employed Americans who worked from home,
from as little as one day a year to full time, grew from 41.3 mil-
lion in 2003 to 44.4 million in 2004, a 7.5 percent growth rate.
A study by iGillottResearch Inc., an Austin-based strategy
consulting firm, estimates the U.S. mobile workforce stood
at 56.6 million in 2004, but that figure will rise to more than
61 million by 2009. The firm defines a mobile employee as
anyone who is out of his or her office—including other parts
of their building—more than 20 percent of the workweek.
A 2004 IDC study estimates a 650 million global mobile
work population. The United States reported a 20 percent
growth in mobile workforce population from 2005 and 2006.
In 2006, Business in Motion, an enterprise news and in-
formation portal, released its findings from a global study of
375 global executives in 36 countries reporting a 20 percent
gain in personal productivity of employees using mobile
technology within their daily job functions.
A 2007 study by Cisco, “Understanding and Managing
the Mobile Workforce,” reported that within two years of
the study over 870 million mobile workers would connect to
their corporate headquarters by electronic means of laptops
and mobile devices.