Not remotely secure, SSN News Poll results reveal

YARMOUTH, Maine –Results are in, and responses aren’t keen on the security realities of a remote work force.

For the April 2023 Security Systems News Poll, we asked readers for feedback on the rise of remote work and how that’s affected their security posture. While remote work continues to grow in popularity and prevalence, readers made it clear that it hasn’t been a net positive for them. In response to, “Did the initial shift to remote work for employees improve your security or worsen it?” Only 12.5% found that their security improved, a whopping half of all votes indicated that security had been negatively impacted with 37.5% showing no discernable change.

Next, we asked readers, “Reviewing the options, which employment method proved the most cost effective for security?”

An overwhelming 56.25% voted that onsite employment was the cheapest route, with remaining opinion divided with 18.75% voting for remote and 25% stating that hybrid was the way to go. (For reference, research firm Global Workplace Analytics found that based on conservative estimates U.S. employers save an average of $11,000, “per half-time telecommuter” per year, stemming from increased productivity, reduced turnover, and other related savings. It does not account for individual industries and trends however.)

Lastly, we asked readers, “Given everything you’ve learned and experienced in the past three years, what method do you support for the future?”

This proved to be the most definitive response of all. 62.5% of all responses indicated a return to in-office work is necessary. A quarter of responses proposed a hybrid system would be best while only 12.5% opted for a future of remote work. “There is a reason you have a supervisor…” one reader wrote.

“It depends on the job function, if you are dealing with sensitive data or in a position where what you are doing is life safety you should be in office, if you are selling Ginsu knives you can work from home,” another reader response read.

One anecdotally responded, “Working from home in many cases is less productive for the company as a hole (sic) and we found that those that continued to come in to the office through the pandemic were some of our better employees.”

Other readers made observations about the situation, writing, “In addition to security and privacy concerns, productivity, quality control and customer service impact should also be considered. While some measurable output jobs are fine, productivity will continue to be an issue for employers allowing remote work.” Another wrote, “The reduction of on-site employees reduces the risk of employee related events, but physical security is still required on-site in all cases. The only physical security staff that can be a hybrid of remote and in-office are positions related to system administration and regulatory compliance.”

That’s it for this month’s News Poll. Next, we’ll be asking readers to chime in on the prevalence of Ransomware, and how best to handle incidents while protecting assets.