Essential Stats You Need to Know About Remote Work

In recent years, due to innovation and a global pandemic, more companies have embraced remote work. Whether you're an employee that needs remote work opportunities in your industry or an employer thinking about maintaining the work-from-home strategy even after the global crisis, there's a lot to learn about remote work. Keep reading to discover essential remote work statistics.

The General Remote Work Statistics

• Globally, 16% of companies are FULLY remote.

Although still a low percentage, the fact that some companies have no headquarters or office and operate 100% remotely shows how remote work has evolved. Moreover, the numbers are expected to increase in the next few years.

• 64% of recruiters note that they can pitch a work-from-home to find quality clients.

Potential candidates are now looking for opportunities that allow flexibility and freedom. Recruiters easily find top talent when they promote fully or partially remote positions.

• Since 2009, people working from home have grown by 159%.

There are various reasons remote work continues to rise, but the main factors are technological advancements that enable people to work in convenient locations and the desire for work-life balance.

• Industries with the highest population of remote workers in 2019 included healthcare (15%), financial services (9%), and technology (10%) .

Typically, remote work is associated with technological advancements and digital marketing roles like web design, content creation, and web development. However, healthcare has the most remote employees. It shows that, no matter your occupation, it's worth looking for remote work. 

•   Approximately 60% of employees between 22 and 65 years occasionally work remotely.

Today, many companies are adopting a hybrid work model. This means they occasionally work from home despite having an office where their staff can work.

• 99% of people will choose remote work, even when it's part-time.

Most employees desire more flexibility and freedom, and if possible, nearly all would prefer to work remotely.

Benefits of Remote Work

• 75% of people favor working remotely due to fewer distractions.

From 2018 data, remote statistics indicate that many people believe they are less distracted when away from their office. 

• 76% of workers are willing to retain their current employer if they have flexible working hours.

Although it positively affects employee engagement and morale, 44% of companies don't allow remote work. According to FlexJobs, 96% of respondents prefer flexible working plans. Indeed, it's something companies should think about in their proposals.

• 86% of those surveyed feel that remote jobs reduce stress levels.

Since stress causes various health conditions, reducing it is a priority for many workers. Most respondents to the survey believe that working in traditional offices promotes this cause.

Similarly, 77% of those surveyed observed that remote work can improve general health since it allows more exercise, a healthier lifestyle, and a better diet.

• 69% of millennials will give up some benefits at work for a more flexible working environment.

This 2017 survey notes that millennials appreciate more flexible occupations than other generations. Other estimates indicate that they will make up around half of the workforce. Due to this fact, companies that need to keep their employees happy should consider flexibility as their essential benefit.

• Firms that allow remote employees have 25% lower turnover than those that don't.

According to Owl Labs data, businesses and companies that support remote employees lost 9% of their staff, compared to 12% in teams that don't. Though a slight difference, it's an indicator of how the two factors correlate. As more companies offer remote work options, employee loyalty and satisfaction increase.

The Cybersecurity Trends and Statistics For 2021

Due to the pandemic and an overall change in trends, many companies are operating a remote workforce with cloud-based platforms. Also, the rollout of 5G has connected more devices than before, making the cybersecurity industry critical. Here are some industry statistics and trends.

• In 2016, 95% of the breached records were from three industries (TechRepublic). 

The affected industries were technology, retail, and government. These are popular targets because of the high-level personal information in their journals.

• 43% of cyberattacks usually  target small businesses.
• 64% of companies have experienced web attacks. In addition, 62% encounter social engineering and phishing attacks while 59 % of companies run into botnets and malicious codes. 

• On average, data breach costs $3.9 million across SMBs.

To small businesses, this sum is crippling both in reputation and finance. However, on average, data breaches in publicly traded companies cost $116 million.

• According to HIPAA Journal, in September 2020, 9.7 million health care records were targeted and compromised.

83% of breaches are attributed to IT incidents or hacking, and 9,662,820 of the records were compromised in those breaches.

• Comprehension and human intelligence are the leading defense against phishing attacks.

According to Cofense, to thwart phishing attempts, you need to know how to protect your business and learn user behavior.

• Connected IoT devices will reach approximately the 75 billion mark by 2025 (ResearchGate).

The IoT market was set to reach 31 billion devices in 2020. By 2025, it will roughly attain 75 billion.

Reasons You Need an MSP

• Owing to the impact of not having robust security in place, it is critical to partner with managed service providers (MSP) to help secure your company's data. The statistics below show why you need MSP services.
• 95% of the cybersecurity breaches are from human errors.
• The world information security market is expected to reach $70.4 billion by 2022 (Gartner)
• 88% of organizations experienced attempted phishing attacks in 2019.
• 68% of leading business owners feel cybersecurity risks are on the rise.
• Averagely, only 5% of companies' documents and folders are fully protected.
• In 2020, data breaches exposed 36 billion records within the first six months (RiskBased)
• 86% of breaches are financially motivated, while 10% are caused by espionage (Verizon)
• An estimate of 300 billion passwords are used by machines and humans worldwide (Cybersecurity Media)

Malware and Ransomware

• The average payments on ransomware rose by 33% in 2020. 
• In 2018, 10,573 malicious mobile applications were locked each day.
• On average, the cost of a ransomware attack to businesses is $133,000.
• 48% of the malicious attachments on emails are office files.
• 94% of malware is delivered through the mail.
• 20% of malicious domains are new and used within one week after registration (Cisco)
• About 60% of malicious domains are from spam campaigns.

Due to fast-paced technological advancements together with an increasing number of employees and employers that embrace telecommunications, it's undeniable that remote work is the new norm. Moreover, these statistics are enough proof.

This is a resource for those looking for information on remote work statistics and stats related to IT for remote work. Schedule a free Zoom call today for a 30-minute consultation with our team.