Certain industries offer greater flexibility regarding whether employees are required to work onsite or remotely. In particular, IT (Information technology) and FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate) involve working with digital data, software, and online tools. Also, these jobs typically have less physical requirements than industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, education, or retail. Also, these technical industries are often focused on outcomes and less on being present for a certain number of hours. Furthermore, these industries have been early adopters of digital technology.
The highest rates of working remotely are among the IT/FIRE/Professional industries and lowest among Education/Government. Report [TUP_doc_2023_1205_fire] in TUP Lenses: User Profile; Work/Life Balance
Home PCs: the unsung heroes of remote work
Home PCs: the unsung heroes of remote work – Getting things done for work from home often demands using a computer. Activities from Webex or Zoom group meetings to creating presentations or reports benefit from using the larger screens of most computers. However, employers have been slow in providing PCs to remote employees. Just as they wavered in their commitment to supporting workers working from home, they’ve vacillated in their policies around providing technology to remote workers.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of workers who use a home computer for work-related activities. Report [TUP_doc_2023_1111_hwrk] in TUP Lenses: PCs; User Profile; Households; Activities; Work/Life Balance
Remote workers use their devices for the most hours
Remote workers use their devices for the most hours – Employees who work remotely tend to spend more time on their devices compared to those exclusively working from office locations. While the time spent on computers, smartphones, or tablets doesn’t directly equate to productivity, it may hint at heightened work activity, especially as remote work often translates to digital meetings. Notably, the difference in device usage hours is most prominent among workers in Japan and Germany. The disparity is most evident when comparing computer usage based on remote work status. This MetaFAQs reports on the mean and median number of hours employees in the US, Germany, UK, Japan, and China use their connected devices – computers, smartphones, and tablets, as well as with each device type. Report [TUP_doc_2023_1011_prod] in TUP Lenses: Devices; User Profile; Work/Life Balance
Device hours declined worldwide
During the COVID pandemic and its interruption to workplace patterns, online adults worldwide shifted how they use technology. Their total usage has declined, especially with computers. This MetaFAQs reports the four-year trend in the average weekly use of connected devices – computers, smartphones, and tablets.
Trend in weekly hours with connected devices
In 2020, COVID-19 and related shutdowns drove up the average number of hours spent on devices around the world. Average device usage has been on a downward trend ever since. Despite this, we continue to see a strong long-term trend of 40-60 hours per week of usage. This MetaFAQs considers how frequently Americans and global device users use their PCs, smartphones, and tablets. Report [TUP_doc_2022_0827_hour] in TUP Lenses: Devices, PCs, Mobile Phones, Tablets.
Highlights: User Profile
Sociodemographically distinct groups vary in composition, technology devices and services, and how they use what they have. Most advantaged groups have bolstered their technology collection during the pandemic and increased their usage levels. Most disadvantaged segments, meanwhile, have used what they have at hand more so than acquiring newer technology. Older millennials have the wealthiest collection of technology devices, well above that of every other age group. This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: usage segments, segments, and trends in segments.
Highlights: Technology Ecosystems
While some device makers focus on speeds, feeds, and features, others are playing the long game to build long-term customer loyalty through ecosystems. This TUP Technology Ecosystems Highlights report reports on the size of leading technology ecosystems, which types of devices are dominating (or not), and their longer-term trends. It details the unique activities users focus on within certain ecosystems, and profiles each ecosystem’s users.
Highlights: PCs
PCs continue to hold a central role among online adults, especially as a substantial number work from home or find ways to stay connected. However, PC users are not all the same in the type of PC they use nor how they use them. This TUP Highlights report details the shifting market penetration of PCs, how ownership has changed, and which brands are leading. It details how often PCs are being used as well as how they are being used for everything from remote work to communication, shopping, and entertainment.
Tablets – Highlights
Tablets continue to seek a solid home, major use cases, and most vital segments. Currently, the largest groups of users are passive, older, or entrenched in the Apple or Google ecosystem. While Apple continues to lead and increase its share, other makers like Samsung are seeing withering penetration. Incidental and passive activities from web browsing, shopping, movie-watching, and checking email haven’t been unique enough on tablets to entice users away from their smartphones or computers.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: the profile of tablet users, trends in tablets, top tablet brands, top tablet activities, unique tablet activities, and trends in technology ecosystems.
Highlights: Activities
What we do paints a richer picture than what we carry or own. All computers are not used the same and nor are smartphones or tablets. Each user has their preference about how they spend their time. Also, each user expresses their choices about which connected devices they turn to for each type of activity. While some see their tablets as passive movie screens, others rely on them as communication hubs. Some users prefer to shop on a computer, while others rely more on their smartphones.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: main activities across all tech devices, major activities for each device type, activities unique to which device type, cross-device activities, the profile of activity type users, major activities for a market segment, home entertainment activities, the profile by key activities, and listening activities.