Working from home is worth preserving

Ivanti has published the results of a consumer survey, which revealed that the Everywhere Workplace is here to stay. Nearly two-thirds (66%) of respondents said they would rather work remotely than be promoted, and almost half (49%) said they would take a pay cut in exchange to be able to work from anywhere. Further validating the desire for remote work, only 16% of respondents claimed that they want to return to an office full time in the future.

The report found that less commute stress (42%), saving money (48%), and a better work/life balance (45%) have been the top benefits of working remotely. On the other hand, the biggest concerns have been less physical activity throughout the day (40%), lack of interaction with colleagues (44%) and screen fatigue (33%). Despite these concerns, more than half of respondents (55%) claimed that their morale was positively impacted while working outside of the office.

According to the survey, 39% of respondents would prefer to work from home if given the choice after the pandemic, while 41% would prefer a combination of the home and office. While offering this flexibility can be a great recruiting tool for organisations, it’s critical to ensure that the proper security protocols, training, and technology are implemented to protect against cyberattacks. Organisations also need to modernize their help desks to ensure that remote workers receive immediate and personalised resolutions for IT issues.

The survey found that 23.38% of respondents have contacted IT support once a week and 25.27% have contacted IT support one to three times a month while working remotely. The main tech issues that have plagued remote workers include the inability to access corporate resources (20.78%), Wi-Fi issues (21.98%), and password resets (28.77%).

“Just over a year ago, the pandemic reshaped the way that millions of people around the world work, whether or not their employers were prepared,” said Chris Goettl, senior director of product management at Ivanti. “It’s clear that many employees have found ways to thrive in their remote environments and would prefer to have the freedom to work from anywhere moving forward. As we enter the next phase of work, in which there will be both remote and hybrid employees, it will be imperative that organisations implement a zero-trust security strategy to better protect their digital assets and ensure that employees can access the data they need to stay productive, regardless of where they are working from.”

Other interesting findings from the survey include:

• 61% of UK respondents said their electricity bill had increased due to working from home. Snacks, beverages and meal costs (38%) was cited as the second biggest cost incurred followed by home office costs (31%)

• More than half (56%) said their employee should be paying for their home internet and 46% claim their employer should pay for an office chair. Other expenses that respondents felt their employer should pay for include a desk (35%), mobile phone (34%), and home telephone (24%).

• 42% have worn pyjama bottoms on a video conference while 34% have watched TV or a movie on mute during a call. 28% have gone to the bathroom or took a shower during a call.

• 34% would take a job if they could work remotely all the time while 42% would take a job if they could work remotely some of the time. Only 9% would not take a fully remote job.

To secure organisations in the Everywhere Workplace, a multi-layered zero trust strategy is necessary to implement access controls, ensure device hygiene and secure user credentials. With Ivanti Neurons, IT teams can discover, manage, secure, and service devices from a single platform, provide zero trust access from cloud to edge and deliver a consumer-grade employee experience. 

The platform leverages automation bots to help secure connections on every device and for any employee, wherever and however they work while delivering optimal personalised end-user experiences. With Ivanti Neurons, customers can address the rapid growth and complexity of devices, data, remote workforces, and cybersecurity threats. To further secure their digital workplaces and reduce the risk of breaches, organisations can implement Ivanti’s Zero Sign-On for secure and password less authentication to enterprise cloud services.