According to behavioural expert, Judi James, the mobile network is at its busiest and peaks at the end of the week as this is when that ‘Friday feeling’ kicks in. “Friday is the transitional day of the week in terms of behaviour and communication. It’s when we’re at our most extrovert and communicative, finishing off our workload as effectively as possible but still buzzing with adrenaline-powered energy in anticipation of the weekend,” she said.
“It’s also the time of the pure hunter/gatherer mentality, where we either celebrate the ‘kill’ in terms of boasting about achievements of the job and sharing the news of our successes, or commiserating about any difficulties experienced at work during the week,” she continued.
Taking a look at the flip side, Orange also found that the quietest day for calls during the working week is Tuesday. Throughout the rest of the week, call volumes gradually increased every day before culminating at their busiest point on Friday afternoon, suggesting that workers become more productive as the week progresses.
However, 4.30pm over the weekend and especially on Sunday is the time when the fewest calls are made.
“This is the time that we’re most likely to be ‘nesting’ and savouring the after-effects of the ‘hunt’ in exactly the same way any other animal would do after a feast,” said Judi. “This creates a small sociability gap where we prefer to either communicate via non-verbal skills like touch or even to sleep to re-charge the batteries.”
Pete Marsden, vice president of IT and networks at Orange, commented: “We keep a close eye on our network to make sure we have capacity to enable customers to make calls when they want to. It’s interesting what the call volumes can tell us about the life of our customers in the UK. Despite the growing 24/7 culture, we can see that the traditions of Friday nights on the town and chilling out on a Sunday are still very much alive and well.”