Less than half of Irish bosses trust workers to work outside the office, which results in a loss of productivity and talent.

The 2017 Workstyle Innovation Survey by Richon Ireland revealed many companies in Ireland are losing out on the many benefits of mobile working, such as greater flexibility (79%) and increased productivity (69%).

The study was carried out in association with TechPro magazine, with 175 IT decision-makers from private and public sector organisations nationwide.

It looks like a rigid top-down culture (49%) and technology (54%) are the main stumbling blocks for innovative mobile working.

Another major barrier is a lack of acceptance and willingness to embrace this type of work style by senior management at 43%.

It therefore comes as no surprise that only 51% believe their business is fully embracing digital transformation.

Greater reliance on mobile devices is also creating problems with many IT departments unsure of how many personal devices are being used to create business documents (55%).

“In order to remain competitive and agile, Irish businesses need to effectively and efficiently manage this digital change so that individual work styles can be supported and encouraged,” Richoh Ireland Managing Director Gary Hopwood said.

The research also highlights an area that will be crucial to Irish companies next year with the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation in May.

Almost three-quarters of businesses claim to be compliant already or working toward compliance but 28% do not believe they will be GDPR-compliant by the date the legislation is due to become law.

This is compounded by the result that 40% of companies have not digitised all critical information policies.