Half of EU companies provide remote workers with devices

Half of EU companies provide remote workers with devices

Some 48 per cent of companies in the EU have provided their staff with portable devices to allow them to work remotely when needed.

This is according to research from official EU statistics office Eurostat and suggests that a growing number of European businesses are open to embracing remote working and device provision. This, in turn, suggests that businesses are investing in their networks to ensure they are robust and reliable enough to facilitate this approach to working.

The researchers found that, although the most common device was a laptop - provided by 40 per cent of companies - some 39 per cent provided staff with smartphones or tablet devices. This shows that mobile devices are becoming almost as commonplace as computers for use in the workplace or for working remotely.

Some 88 per cent of respondents said the devices were provided to enable staff to check emails, while 86 per cent said they were intended to be used to go online. In terms of the countries that handed out the most devices, topping the list within the EU was Finland, with 78 per cent of companies in the Nordic country providing staff with portable devices.

In the UK, some 56 per cent of firms provide staff with devices to help them work remotely, coming sixth on the list. However, within the UK, the most common devices provided were tablets and smartphones, which had taken over from laptops as the most commonly used devices supplied by businesses with remote workers.

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