The study discovered this is a weekly occurrence for 5% of companies, and happens monthly for a further 43%. Further to this, 43% of those surveyed also admit they have experienced two mobile workers arriving at the same job.

‘The results will make surprising reading for the service sector, particularly given the abundance of technological aids now available to ensure working schedules are completed efficiently and accurately,’ commented Giles Margerison, director UK and Ireland, TomTom Telematics.

‘This suggests that a number of companies are still not communicating effectively enough with staff or updating work schedules on the fly, causing costly mistakes to be made.’

The study also revealed 41% of companies communicate work schedules to drivers via text and a further 34% by phone. Only 2% send job details directly to the driver's satellite navigation device and 17% use a mobile app.

Poor communication also emerged as the most common cause of disagreement with customers, cited by 28% of those surveyed. This was followed closely by response times (23%) and the time slots given to customers for jobs (23%).

Finally, only 44% of companies use dynamic routing and scheduling processes that allow schedules to be changed according to activity during a day and the emergence of new jobs.

‘Dynamic scheduling requires access to the appropriate data, which provides companies with actionable insights into fleet activity in real time,’ Margerison added. ‘Telematics systems can be integrated with routing and scheduling software, for example, to use a wealth of data – including journey times, real-time traffic and the location of mobile workers – enabling the creation of smarter itineraries that can be altered at a moment's notice.’