It's official: Most people use a personal smartphone for work

As 2021 draws to a close, TechRadar Pro has commissioned an exclusive poll from OnePulse to dig into smartphone usage at work.

As the world shifts towards hybrid working – or out-and-out remote working – smartphone usage is a hot topic, especially personal devices being used at work.

Gone are the days when office workers were tied to a desk, and usually an elderly Windows PC, and the impact of the changes are still being widely felt. Industries like social media influencers, which didn't even exist a few years ago, are now entirely dependent on modern smartphones, for example.

Smartphone usage at work

To find out more, we asked 500 people in the US and UK a few questions whether they used a smartphone outside of work to conduct work-related business (video calls, presentations, meetings, that kind of thing).

Around three-quarters (73%) confirmed that they use smartphones for work matters, with the most common reason being email and the least common being Wi-Fi hotspotting. And of those who use smartphones for work, a shocking 82% do so with their own personal smartphone, not a work-issued device.

Most respondents (46%) used their smartphone for less than one hour per day for work, followed by 1-2 hours per day (28.3%), 2-5 hours per day (16.8%), and overfill hours per day (8.9%).