Samsung Marketing Boss: Technology Will End the Nine to Five Workday

The typical nine to five workday will be a thing of the past as technology will dramatically change the world of work, according to Samsung UK's marketing chief.

"There's a change in the way the workplace is being viewed," Philip Oldham, head of marketing Samsung UK's business and enterprise team, told IBTimes UK.

"Historically, people are meant to be in the office nine to five, at their desk, doing their job, physically present.

"We are seeing a real shift in that now so that the mobility of the devices that people are expecting to use, the way people are wanting to use those devices, means that the office is changing to a flexible space, opposed to the traditional format."

Oldham explained that companies are experiencing a "mind-shift" in the way they view the workplace.

"Generation Y, by 2019, will be in senior management jobs and, of course, they have been bought up with this kind of IT flexibility," Oldham said.

"That mind-shift is being driven through the senior management of corporations and in the next five years the workplace will totally change to how it is today."

The comments coincide with a poll by Ovum Analysts for Samsung Business Futurescape, which found that up to 78% of people use their own devices for work.

The study also revealed that employees are setting up their own applications at work, for example cloud file sync and share services, due to IT departments falling short in resources for workers.

For example, only 14% prefer to use applications supplied by their employer, with almost a fifth (18%) admitting that their employers' IT departments don't provide them with the applications that they need to be able to do their jobs.

The research also pointed to the beginning of the end of the nine to five, with more than four in 10 (42%) of employees strongly agreeing with the idea of being able to access work emails and apps outside of official working hours.

"Since starting to run my own businesses, I've seen how far technology has come in terms connecting employees and how the strive for work-life balance has become a selling point for many employers," said James Caan, an entrepreneur and former star of Dragon's Den.

"What is apparent from this research is that it needs to work both ways; a level of trust must be awarded to workforces so that they can work the hours most convenient to them and employees must feel they have the freedom and access to their work whenever they need it with the technology that they need to do so."