Are you a religious user of your mobile phone at work, or do you cringe at every notification buzz and baulk at the idea of texting a friend in the middle of a meeting? Thanks to a new survey from Galaxus, we now know the phone habits of workers in Switzerland, and how they compare to other nations in Europe.
Based on its survey of 5.060 people in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland and Italy, around 65 percent of employees admit to using their phone for non-work reasons while on the clock. Among the highlights of the study, 47 percent of staff in Italy reported that they browse social media and watch videos when working, and around a quarter of respondents use their phones to play games on their employers’ time.
Amazingly, an average of 3 percent of respondents reported that they had watched pornography on their phone while at work. This was most prominent in Austria (8 percent), followed by France and Germany in joint second with 7 percent.
By comparison, workers in Switzerland are choir boys when it comes to phones. A whopping 52 percent of respondents said they typically use their personal device to answer work-related queries, the highest percentage of all countries analysed.
People across the cantons were also the most comfortable in checking personal messages while at work (72 percent) and keeping themselves up to date with the news (53 percent). By contrast, 35 percent of workers reported using social media, 23 percent admitted to doing personal tasks, 19 percent reported accessing entertainment, and just 3 percent reported that they watched porn while prepping for their next high-stakes meeting.
In the report, Galaxus described the Swiss as the "most polite" of the countries analysed, with 36 percent of respondents reporting that they avoid using their phones at work and nearly three-quarters arguing that a ringing mobile has no place at the office. Only 1 percent said they checked their phones during in-person meetings and conversations, compared to 3 percent in Austria and Italy, 6 percent in Germany and 7 percent in France.
However, the report also found that over half of respondents in Switzerland respond to work-related messages after hours. 13 percent said that they regularly have to message their employers and colleagues when the working day is done, higher than in Germany (11 percent) but lower than Austria (17 percent), France (19 percent) and Italy (26 percent).