An increasing number of UK employees are becoming frustrated by the inferior quality of Wi-Fi in their workplace, according to research.
They are missing deadlines and opportunities to further their career at work, the study by Aerohive Networks found.
Of the 2,000 Britons polled, nearly 33% rely on wireless access and connected devices to do their jobs effectively, of which 61% say they get better Wi-Fi at home than in their workplace.
The research found that up to 40% have missed deadlines and opportunities at work due to poor connectivity, with some even having used it as an excuse when reporting back to bosses.
As a result, eight out of 10 workers said they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely frustrated’, while a third admitted to waving their device in the air.
The research also found that out of 641 wireless-workers polled, two-thirds automatically blame the infrastructure for poor connections, as opposed to the device or other users.
Gareth Green, international GM at Aerohive, said: "Businesses are doing something wrong if the thousands of pounds spent on enterprise Wi-Fi aren’t providing the experience consumers get from ‘off the shelf’ home products. Clearly a new approach is needed that gives the performance and ease-of-use customers have at home, with the scale and security of the enterprise."
Paul Hennin, international MD at Aerohive, added: "The findings point to a host of Wi-Fi frustrations and a perception-gap on the cause of these. The network is getting all the blame for poor experiences, when in reality the mobile device and users themselves have a big part to play.
"There’s a lot still to learn as our new mobile behaviours and consumption demands mean traditional enterprise Wi-Fi networks will need to evolve."
