How’s the connection looking in your office?
Rewind five years – no talk of dry coughs and not even a hint of social distancing – and most mental health-focused media you’d read would tell you your smartphone’s no good for maintaining a positive, healthy lifestyle.
Oh, how things have changed.
It goes without saying that, these days, smartphones can be a literal lifeline – for those living in isolation, for the loneliest in our society, and for the elderly just as much as for young people.
But in 2021, smartphones aren’t just for socialising from distance and maintaining connection between you and your loved ones; they’re a crucial factor in the smooth operation of any business.
As long as you’ve got good mobile signal, that is. Here’s why…
1. You need reliable mobile signal for uninterrupted business calls and improved productivity
It didn’t take the pandemic to establish mobile phones as being part and parcel with office work; that’s been the case for years now, and it’s unlikely ever to change.
As long ago as 2015, a study carried out by Ericsson and Fujitsu found that three quarters of workers in the US used their smart phones at work. And even back then, half of the respondents claimed to use their phones for work activities like messaging and email.
These days, no-one bats an eyelid at the sight of a smartphone next to the mousepad, or at seeing a colleague take a call on their personal phone outside of their lunch break. Mobile phones are a crucial part of every successful business. How else can you ensure you’re always connected with your partners, clients, customers and employees, after all?
2. You need decent connection to create a better culture at work
The moment you employ your first member of staff, you realise there’s a heck of a lot of responsibility that goes hand and hand with that privilege. Whether you’ve got tens, hundreds or even thousands of employees to think about, HR is one of the most crucial factors in creating a successful business.
So how can you develop the right sort of culture where people are happy to be and work gets done quicker and better as a result? For starters, you don’t let your staff come into work worrying about the prospect of limited signal, stunted communication with the outside world and lack of contact with their loved ones.
Just this week we received an enquiry from a construction company looking for a signal boosting solution, and their main priority was the welfare of their staff!
3. Mobile signal keeps those health and safety boxes ticked
On the subject of your staff, you’ve not only got the responsibility of making them want to come to work, you’ve got a duty of care to make sure they’re safe while they’re there too.
Health and safety’s a major concern for every business, and whether you’ve got staff going out on site visits, working from home or they’re in the office, if you don’t have the signal strength to make an uninterrupted call? You can’t guarantee you can always reach them, or that they’d be able to reach you in an emergency.
4. You can’t guarantee back-up without non-stop signal
Now that more users are relying on Broadband at any one time, you’re increasingly likely to experience problems with your connectivity – as you’ve no doubt already noticed.
No big deal when you’re at home, you just give up on Netflix and pick up a book instead (either that or you give up on the day altogether and head straight to bed – I mean, what even is “a day” in 2021 without Netflix?!).
But at work? Where files and folders need to be up to date and fully backed up at all times, or critical data needs to be submitted – like medication notes or prescription requests – what are you going to do if the Wi-Fi fails?
We recently installed mobile signal boosters in 20 care homes for Hampshire County Council for this very reason. Great for the residents to be able to stay connected to their loved ones no matter which area of the building they’re in, and ideal for guaranteeing staff can always update medication data back to Government too.
5. You’ll give your staff more peace of mind returning to the office with consistent mobile signal
If you work in an office, chances are you’ll have more people coming back into work very soon, now that restrictions are looser and “normal” is creeping closer.
In the last year, screen time’s risen steeply, with a reported 37% increase in texting and 32% increase in video calling. Facebook alone saw a massive 70% increase in group calls in its Messenger app.
Mobile connection’s now more crucial than ever before – our smart phones are the very things that keep our relationships with friends and family going, regardless of lockdowns and restrictions on social events.
Reducing stress and helping staff feel as comfortable as possible as they return to the office won’t just be good for morale; it’ll be good for productivity too. After a year of relying on mobile signal and smart phones for peace of mind, poor network coverage – typically caused by modern building materials and layouts – could lead to hitherto unknown stress for your returning employees.
So what can you do to make sure you do improve productivity, peace of mind and culture now that 'normal' is ebbing ever closer?
You need to be able to guarantee great mobile signal in every nook and cranny, at all times of the day.
And the simplest way to do that is to install a mobile signal booster.
It’s a smart little device that can be installed in any building where mobile signal isn’t always reliable. It’ll turn the signal problem on its head and guarantee you and your staff always stay connected, no matter how thick the walls of your building.
Our boosters increase signal by as much as 1,000 times, meaning you can always keep your systems backed up, whether the Wi-Fi’s working or not. They’re 100% legal to use, compatible with every UK mobile network and unconditionally network safe.
So if you want to transform your office into a place where employees will feel secure to return; where they’ll be able to work with less stress, enjoy more reliable connection while talking to customers, and generally feel happier to be back?
Let’s talk about installing a Signal Solutions mobile signal booster on your premises. Give us a buzz on 020 3823 7365.
