Abigail Klein Leichman
January 6, 2021, Updated April 27, 2023

A remote workforce study from CyberArk found that most employees feel more productive working from home (WFH) and want to continue WFH after the Covid-19 pandemic passes.

That’s true even though 78 percent admitted to having frequent technical issues and 34% said they’re suffering “Zoom fatigue.”

However, poor security practices could force businesses to reconsider the long-term viability of WFH.

Over half (54%) of the employees surveyed said they had received remote-work specific security training. Yet 67% admitted that they disobey these policies.

• 69% of respondents admit to using corporate devices for personal use.
• 57% admit that they allow other members of their household to use their corporate devices for activities like schoolwork, gaming and shopping – a 185% increase from a similar survey conducted in the spring.
• 82% admit to reusing passwords — a 12% increase from the spring survey.

Other security-compromising habits include sending work documents to personal email addresses, sharing passwords, and/or installing rogue applications.

“The global pandemic has been the largest test yet for the future of distributed work. Working people have proven incredibly resilient as they rise to the challenge and overcome the stress and significant obstacles of blending home and work lives,” said Matt Cohen, Chief Operating Officer, CyberArk.

“As we continue to adapt to this new way of operating, it’s the responsibility of both employees and organizations to take responsibility of corporate security. Organizations should continually reinforce best practices and implement user-friendly tools and policies while employees need to understand and be receptive to those policies.”

By the way, the biggest challenge of remote work, cited by 45% of employees in the survey, is disruption from family and pets.

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