A survey of 941 remote and mobile workers reveals some interesting facts about work-at-home habits.
VPN and security vendor SonicWALL conducted a worldwide survey of 941 remote and mobile workers. 650 responses came from the
The results reveal that while more than half of the respondents access their corporate network from home on a daily basis (86 per cent log in several times a week) less than 50 per cent accessed any applications other than Web mail when working outside the office.
The survey, conducted by Insight Express and SonicWALL at the end of last year, indicates a growing trend towards home working is likely to breed a more productive and liberated international workforce.
While security was not high on the list of things remote workers are thinking about, 76 per cent of believed that working remotely is an aid to productivity and 61 per cent are also convinced their managers agree with them.
However, 88 per cent of the individuals surveyed admitting to storing passwords in easily-discovered locations, and only 12 per cent employing encrypted files to store and manage their login data. 56 per cent said they rely on their memories to keep track of their network passwords, while others used the same passwords for all devices, stored the information on cell phones, or stuck notes with the login information onto their computer (4 per cent).
Respondents said that the chief attraction of working remotely was the ability to maintain a flexible schedule. Only 22 per cent of workers used cell phones or PDAs to work from home, but respondents said they expected this type of usage to grow in the coming year.
Okay but now the serious stuff. Everybody admitted they were more relaxed about their personal habits when working out of the office.
About 39 per cent of respondents of both sexes said they wear sweats while working from home, while 12 per cent of males and 7 per cent of females wear nothing at all!
In matters of cleanliness, the difference between the sexes was more pointed: 44 per cent of women surveyed said they showered on work-at-home days, as opposed to men, who were slightly more likely to shave (33 per cent) than wash (30 per cent).
18 per cent of men regularly break off to do household tasks such as laundry, dishwashing or dusting whereas many more women – over 38 per cent – found their attention claimed by chores.
Respondents also said they took the opportunity to eat and drink outside standard times (about 35 per cent); listen to music (45 per cent) or watch TV (28 per cent); and 21 per cent of all respondents admitted to sneaking in an afternoon nap.
A small percentage of those surveyed (9 per cent) admitted to feelings of guilt about being away from the office. Taking a longer lunch than at the workplace was also relatively rare (12 per cent).
Only 40 per cent of polled respondents said they experienced problems when accessing their corporate networks remotely, though. But they were so laid back about it thanks to the nap, tempers were kept on an even keel. More than 80 per cent of surveyed workers have never lost their temper with support staff trying to help then fix a problem.