September 17, 2007—According to a survey of more than 1,100 managers by secure infrastructure firm SonicWALL, business leaders and managers are becoming more comfortable with their staff working remotely, although concerns remain about the impact of the remote work force on employee productivity, effective teambuilding and computer security.
The survey of management views on remote working, sponsored by SonicWALL, Inc. and conducted in the US and Australia by online marketing research firm InsightExpress, indicates more than half of the respondents believe that offering their employees the ability to work remotely is a competitive necessity or at minimum a motivating perk for employees. More than a third of the 1,184 managers surveyed have employees that work out of the office more than 20% of the time.
The chief reasons to change their minds among managers with no formal remote worker policy in place are: employee motivation (26%); cost of office space (15%); rising gas prices (14%); and traffic or weather conditions (14%).
Half of poll takers also reported that their firms have formal remote worker policies in place. But despite this growing support for offsite working, business leaders identified several concerns unique to managing a remote work force. The top three anxieties—each reported by more than 20% of respondents—included worry over whether their remote workers will remain productive; challenges to building strong teams; and concerns about potential security breaches.
Location of their remote workers matters to managers. Most (22%) prefer to think of their staff working from home, followed by 16% who find working from hotel business centers acceptable. Coffee shops airports, public libraries and wireless hotspots received limited support—between 6% and 9%. Fewer than 2% of managers would look kindly on workers who choose a wired beach, pool or stadium from which to conduct business.
Founded in 1991, SonicWALL, Inc. designs, develops and manufactures comprehensive network security, email security, secure remote access, and backup and recovery solutions.
