ATLANTA, March 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As businesses
approach Telework Week 2014, employers and employees will make
commitments to increase telecommuting and productivity, while
decreasing commute times and stress. A survey of U.S.-based
customers and knowledge workers by PGi (NYSE: PGI), a leading
global provider of collaboration software and services for more
than 20 years, found that telecommuting employees see improvements
in stress level (82 percent), morale (80 percent), productivity (70
percent) and absenteeism (69 percent).
PGi's survey showed that telecommuting is widespread among
businesses with knowledge workers:
- 80% of respondents report that their office allows
telecommuting.
- 71% participate in the telecommuting program.
- 50% telecommute one day per week.
- 22% telecommute five or more days per week.
Technology powers telework, with 91 percent of telecommuting
respondents using a company-issued laptop. Other popular
technologies issued by employers are:
- 76% VPN access to company data.
- 75% web conferencing tools.
- 62% cellphone or smartphone.
"The findings confirm what we at PGi have always known to be
true: Telecommuting provides important emotional benefits for
employees, while at the same time delivering meaningful operational
improvements for businesses," said Sean
O'Brien, EVP of strategy & communications for PGi.
"Instead of insisting on 9-to-5 hours in an office, our customers
are increasingly adopting virtual collaboration technologies, like
iMeet® and GlobalMeet®, to provide rich online engagement and to
empower their 'anywhere workers' to work smarter and be more
productive. We expect that this trend will continue as companies
worldwide understand the value and benefits of adopting flexible
work models."
The survey findings come one year after several notable
announcements signaled the end of prominent companies'
telecommuting policies. While the decisions set off a firestorm of
discussions about telecommuting, interestingly, 89 percent of
respondents stated their telecommuting policy did not change during
the past year. For those who did report a change, only six percent
stated that their company ended an established program.
About the Survey
PGi conducted an online survey of
U.S.-based customers and knowledge workers in February 2014, securing responses from 933
individuals.
About Premiere Global Services, Inc. │ PGi
PGi has
been a leading global provider of collaboration software and
services for over 20 years. PGi's cloud-based software applications
let business users connect, collaborate and share ideas and
information from their desktop, tablet or smartphone, enabling
greater productivity in the office or on the go. PGi has a global
presence in 25 countries, and its award-winning solutions provide a
collaborative advantage to over 45,000 enterprise customers,
including 75% of the Fortune 100™. In the last five years, PGi has
hosted more than 1.1 billion people from 137 countries in over 250
million virtual meetings. For more information, visit PGi at
www.pgi.com.
Statements made in this press release, other than those
concerning historical information, should be considered
forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties.
Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe
harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 and are made based on management's current expectations or
beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently
available to, management. A variety of factors could cause actual
results to differ materially from those anticipated in PGi's
forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the
following factors: competitive pressures, including pricing
pressures; technological changes and the development of
alternatives to our services; market acceptance of our cloud-based,
virtual meeting solutions, including our iMeet® and GlobalMeet®
solutions; our ability to attract new customers and to retain and
further penetrate our existing customers; our ability to establish
and maintain strategic reseller relationships; risks associated
with challenging global economic conditions; price increases from
our telecommunications service providers; service interruptions and
network downtime; technological obsolescence and our ability to
upgrade our equipment or increase our network capacity; concerns
regarding the security and privacy of our customers' confidential
information; future write-downs of goodwill or other intangible
assets; greater than anticipated tax and regulatory liabilities;
restructuring and cost reduction initiatives and the market
reaction thereto; our level of indebtedness; risks associated with
acquisitions and divestitures; indemnification claims from the sale
of our PGiSend business; our ability to protect our intellectual
property rights, including possible adverse results of litigation
or infringement claims; regulatory or legislative changes,
including further government regulations applicable to traditional
telecommunications service providers and data privacy; risks
associated with international operations and market expansion,
including fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and
other factors described from time to time in our press releases,
reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including but not limited to the "Risk Factors" section
of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. All forward-looking statements
attributable to us or a person acting on our behalf are expressly
qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. We do not
undertake any obligation to update or to release publicly any
revisions to forward-looking statements contained in this press
release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date
of this press release or the date of the statement, if a different
date, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Media Contact:
Blakely Thomas-Aguilar
404-262-8429
blakely.thomas-aguilar@pgi.com
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SOURCE PGi