Remote Workforce Concerns & Issues

We have discussed it before in this space. The rapid pace at which businesses were forced to transform from traditional offices to supporting a remote workforce forced fast solutions and workarounds. But as this situation has settled into a bit of normalcy, many businesses have decided to incorporate work-from-home flexibility into their overall strategy – in fact, studies indicate that 83% of organizations plan to continue even after all restrictions are lifted. Still, many employees have reported a couple of remote workplace concerns which still need fine-tuning as we move forward.

The two main concerns reported in a recent Navisite survey are unreliable home broadband connectivity, which is a primary problem; as well as network security concerns.

Survey Highlights Remote Workforce Concerns

Quick Fact: Just over half of those surveyed (51%) reported “IT pains” during the necessarily immediate shift to support remote workers, but 6 months later, a third of them continue to experience issues and problems.

Sufficient Broadband

The top concern in this arena is the need for faster, reliable broadband. Poor internet bandwidth was cited by half (49%) of the respondents.
Not only were their home networks not quite up to par in some cases, but meetings utilizing Zoom and Microsoft Teams have revealed unreliable internet issues as well. Collaboration and productivity tools traditionally found on robust office networks utilize larger amounts of bandwidth than homeowners are used to requiring. This issue is exacerbated by others in the household requiring bandwidth as well – such as students attending school online, or other wage earners working from home. There are some solutions such as remote SD-WAN which allocate bandwidth to more high-intensity applications, but others may find themselves kicked off or significantly handicapped.
“If you have poor home internet performance, it can cause problems with the quality of the video and audio on those videoconference platforms, which prevents people from getting work done and effectively engaging and collaborating.” Navisite CEO Mark Clayman.

Security and Compliance

Just behind the need for better internet services is a concern about security and compliance. 46% of C-level respondents, as well as IT professionals, indicated a serious worry in this area. More than a third of respondents (36%) reported that they were unprepared for the rapid shift to remote work, and the pace and urgency caused many IT professionals to ease normal security protocols. In the rush to shut down and get everyone back online from home, security gaps emerged. Now that remote workforce is looking to be here to stay, these gaps need to be dealt with, both to protect the company and to ensure ongoing compliance with industry regulations.

Cloud-based services are expected to help with these remote workforce concerns, allowing secure access to corporate data and services, while being deployed, configured and managed in a central location. Managed services firms are another popular local resource to help companies to shore up their networks, security and operations.

Other Cited Remote Workforce Concerns

• 20% – Home use negligence or inappropriate use of corporate devices
• 13% – Staffing resources needed to manage large numbers of remote users
• 12% – Management tools to support remote users
• 11% – Years of overloading enterprise remote access solutions

The cost of implementing these solutions was only a concern for 10% of respondents, indicating that they are ready and able to address the concerns, they simply need the answers. Clayman feels that organizations have already shifted their cost models to account for the change in environment, and are now looking to tighten up their protocols.

At Alliance IT, we are committed to helping your organization to find the right IT solutions to help you move forward. Call us today for a consultation – let’s get to work!