The everywhere workplace is here to stay

63% of respondents said they would rather work remotely than be promoted, and 48% said they would take a pay cut in exchange to be able to work from anywhere, an Ivanti survey reveals. Further validating the desire for remote work, only 12% of respondents claimed that they want to return to an office full time in the future.

The survey found that a flexible work schedule (47%), less commute stress (43%), saving money (40%), and a better work/life balance (35%) have been the top benefits of working remotely. On the other hand, the biggest concerns have been less physical movement throughout the day (40%), lack of interaction with colleagues (39%), screen fatigue (31%), and not being able to collaborate or communicate effectively (31%). Despite these concerns, 52% of respondents claimed that their morale was positively impacted while working outside of the office.

According to the survey, 37% of respondents would prefer to work from home if given the choice after the pandemic, while 38% would prefer a combination of the home and office. While offering this flexibility can be a great recruiting tool for organizations, it’s critical to ensure that the proper security protocols, training and technology are implemented to protect against cyberattacks.

Tech issues plaguing remote workers

Organizations also need to modernize their help desks to ensure that remote workers receive immediate and personalized resolutions for IT issues. The survey found that 19% of respondents have contacted IT support once a week and 22% 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 (29%), Wi-Fi issues (21%), and password resets (18%).

“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 into the next phase of work, in which there will be both remote and hybrid employees, it will be imperative that organizations 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.”

The pitfalls of the everywhere workplace

• 37% of respondents traveled to a location away from home and worked from there during the pandemic, and 21% moved to a new city or state.
• An increased electricity bill (45%) was the biggest financial cost incurred while working from home. This was followed, not surprisingly, by an increase in home office costs (39%) and an increase in the cost of snacks, meals and beverages (34%).
• Home internet is the top expense that employees feel their employer should pay for (60%) followed by an office chair (43%), cellphone (38%), and a desk (33%).
• Half of respondents have worn pajama pants on a video conference call while 31% claim to have gone to the bathroom or taken a shower during a call. Another 20% have taken a video conference while not wearing pants.

To secure organizations in the everywhere workplace, a multi-layered zero trust strategy is necessary to implement access controls, ensure device hygiene and secure user credentials.