In spite of the various downsides, most employees still enjoy working remotely and would be more than happy to make a few compromises in order to remain remote.
These are the conclusions of a new report from software company Ivanti, which recently polled some 1,000 UK workers on their attitude towards working from home.
The majority of respondents (66 percent) said they would rather work remotely than be promoted, while almost half (49 percent) said they would happily take a pay cut if that would mean remaining in a remote working position. On the other hand, just 16 percent wanted to return to the office, full-time.
There are three key benefits to working remotely: less commuting, less expenditure (transportation costs, eating out etc.) and an overall better work-life balance. Still, there are major downsides to not working from an office, including less physical activity throughout the day, lack of interaction with colleagues and co-workers and screen fatigue.
Overall, though, more than half of Ivanti’s respondents (55 percent) said working remotely positively affected their morale.
While remote working can do wonders for employee productivity, businesses need to be aware of the cybersecurity risks as well, the report states. Roughly a quarter of employees contact IT support once a week, with main issues being the inability to access corporate resources, Wi-Fi issues and password resets.
“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,” said Chris Goettl, Senior Director of Product Management at Ivanti.
“As we enter 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.”
