As Busy Holidays Approach, Two-Thirds of Americans Feel More Productive Than Two Years Ago.Sprint Survey Finds 'Tis the Season for Getting Things Done, with 84 Percent of Respondents Reporting That Technology is Vital to Productivity Particularly Relevant During Busiest Travel Time of the Year, 93 Percent of Respondents Claim to Bring Their Work-Related Mobile Phones on Vacation OVERLAND PARK Overland Park, city (1990 pop. 111,790), Johnson co., NE Kans., a residential suburb of Kansas City; inc. 1960. There is printing and publishing, and the manufacture of apparel, aircraft parts, cement, prepared foods, salt, chemicals, marine accessories, and signs. , Kan. -- Today Sprint (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :S) released findings from the 2006 Sprint Productivity Survey, a nationwide index of wireless phone users and their productivity. Although the results show nearly all wireless phone subscribers (93 percent) bring work-related mobile phones on vacation, the majority of Americans say they have achieved work-life balance The expression work-life balance was first used in 1986 in the US (although had been used in the UK from the late 1970s by organisations such as New Ways to Work and the Working Mother's Association) to help explain the unhealthy life choices that many people were making; they were (73 percent) and are more productive today than two years ago (67 percent). Most respondents (84 percent) report technology is vital to their productivity. Specifically, 35 percent say they could not accomplish what they do without technology. An equal number report they would accomplish much less without technology, and 14 percent report they would accomplish nearly the same. To view charts and graphs from the 2006 Sprint Productivity Survey, please visit www.sprint.com/productivitysurvey. Striking a Balance Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73 percent) report having a work-life balance, defined as meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment in one's home and working lives. Eighty-two percent of respondents report high levels of productivity increase their work-life balance. Many respondents use technology to help achieve a work-life balance. For example, 82 percent report using technology to make their downtime The time during which a computer is not functioning due to hardware, operating system or application program failure. more enjoyable. Interestingly, the most popular uses of technology to fill free time can all be done using a mobile phone: * Listen to music (43 percent), * Call someone (40 percent), * Check/send email (39 percent), * Surf the Internet (36 percent), * Play games (31 percent) and * Text/instant message (23 percent) Defining Productivity Productivity means different things to different people. The most popular characterization of productivity - as selected by 36 percent of respondents - was maximizing their life by making the most of their time in and out of work. The second most popular response - with 25 percent support - was completing tasks in a timely manner. Rounding out the list was: * Making the most out of their time (16 percent) * Completing tasks faster than before at a better quality (14 percent) * Making the most of multitasking multitasking Mode of computer operation in which the computer works on multiple tasks at the same time. A task is a computer program (or part of a program) that can be run as a separate entity. (6 percent) * Completing tasks faster than before (2 percent) Contrary to the popular sentiment of dreading Mondays, the Survey found that Monday is the most productive day of the week, as selected by 27 percent of respondents. As the week progresses, respondent productivity decreases: Tuesday (18 percent), Wednesday (17 percent), Thursday (12 percent), Friday (11 percent), Saturday (10 percent) and Sunday (5 percent). Productivity with Mobile Phones When asked what services on respondents' mobile phones help maximize their lives (respondents could choose more than one), respondents said: * Text messaging Sending short messages to a smartphone, pager, PDA or other handheld device. Text messaging implies sending short messages generally no more than a couple of hundred characters in length. (64 percent) * Email (62 percent) * Camera (60 percent) * Wireless Web (59 percent) * Music (58 percent) * Instant messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or (58 percent) * Location-based services See mobile positioning. (driving directions, GPS tracking See vehicle tracking. ) (55 percent) * News (55 percent) * Games (51 percent) Similarly, when asked which feature on their mobile phone helps respondents make the most of their time, voicemail led the way. Respondents said: * Voicemail (86 percent) * Phone book (82 percent) * Speed dial (65 percent) * Speakerphone speak·er·phone n. A telephone or telephone attachment that contains both a loudspeaker and a microphone, allowing several persons to participate in a call at the same time without the telephone receiver being held. Noun 1. (65 percent) * Camera (56 percent) * Text/instant messaging (53 percent) * Calendar (51 percent) More than half of respondents (54 percent) would like to use GPS on their mobile phone to locate a family member, and more than one-third (37 percent) of those with a digital video recorder See DVR. (DVR (1) (Digital Video Recorder) A device that records video onto a hard disk from one or more ceiling mounted video cameras. Part of a security system, the DVR typically supports 4, 8 or 16 separate camera channels. ) would like to be able to program it with their mobile phone. Also of interest, nearly half of respondents (49 percent) say they know five or fewer numbers currently in their mobile phone's phonebook by heart - nine percent report knowing zero numbers by heart. To find out what phones work best for individual productivity levels, visit a brief quiz at www.sprint.com/productivitysurvey. Mobile and Landline Several respondents are relying more on their mobile phone than their landline. Fourteen percent of respondents report already giving up their landline to exclusively use their mobile phone, and an additional 32 percent say they are likely to give up their landline in favor of their mobile phone. Additionally, of those respondents with both a landline and mobile phone, 51 percent would like one voice mailbox A simulated mailbox in the computer that holds e-mail messages. Mailboxes are stored on disk as a file of messages, a database of messages or as an individual file for each message. The standard mailboxes are usually In, Out, Trash and Junk (Spam). for both phone lines. About the 2006 Sprint Productivity Survey The 2006 Sprint Productivity Survey is based on an online survey among a nationwide sample of U.S. adults. Of the 523 participants, 30 percent were from the South, 27 percent from the Northeast, 26 percent from the Midwest and 17 percent from the West. Of the respondents, 56 percent were female and 44 percent were male. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 4.73 percent. To view findings from the 2006 Sprint Productivity Survey, please visit www.sprint.com/productivitysurvey. About Sprint Nextel Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. With 55 million subscribers, Sprint Nextel operates the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States (based on total wireless customers), behind Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks serving more than 51 million customers at the end of third quarter 2006; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone (communications, networking) Internet backbone - High-speed networks that carry Internet traffic. These communications networks are provided by companies such as AT&T, GTE, IBM, MCI, Netcom, Sprint, UUNET and consist of high-speed links in the T1, T3, OC1 and OC3 ranges. . For more information, visit www.sprint.com. |
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