According to BT the average UK office worker sees less sun than the average coal miner. The growing trend of 'chain-desking' where workers feel that being out of the office is the same as being out of touch, is blamed for the vampire-like existence.
The research was conducted on behalf of BT Wireless Broadband, and revealed that the majority of city workers see natural sunlight for less than an hour per day. Rather shockingly, 22 percent see the sun for less than twenty minutes during the working day.
No surprise at all then that 65 percent said they felt unmotivated knowing that they'll be stuck indoors all day working, and some have considered throwing a sickie to compensate.
In response to the research Stephen Alambritis of the Federation for Small Businesses says "Lack of sunshine or outdoors activity has an enormous effect on morale and productivity is likely to drop in tandem. With a wide variety of internet access options available to office workers, and more bosses approving remote working, there's never been a better summer for those workers stuck at their desks to get some productive time in the sun for their boss and themselves."
BT has chipped in with some tips on getting the best out of working away from the office:
- Don't flash your devices around. Find a sensible and safe location to work in.
- Activate your computer's firewall before going outdoors.
- Take care that no-one is looking as you type in passcodes/PINs etc.
- Password-protect any important files. Alternatively, do not take confidential documents out and about with you.
- Use a secure connection wherever possible - details of this can be found next to the network name. Also, ensure that you disable your device's ability to automatically connect to a network, or it could connect you to an unsecure one.
- Disable "file and printer sharing", as this leaves your computer more vulnerable to hackers.
- Keep your operating system and your anti-virus software up to date.
- Try to use webmail services wherever possible, rather than use Outlook or Apple Mail directly. This allows you to take advantage of the added security these sites provide.
- Finally, it's important for both you and your device to stay cool - don't stay in the sun too long, or your laptop could overheat and you may lose important work!
