One Year Of Working From Home – Five Key Findings From A Survey Of 538 Business Professionals

WAYNE, Pa. - PrZen -- Evolve IP^®, a leading international service provider of Work Anywhere™ solutions today announced the results of a survey taken by 538 business professionals about working from home and their expectations for the future of remote work. The survey was fielded in February of 2021, approximately one month before the March 13^th, 2020 national emergency declaration forced the majority of American employees to begin working from home.

Five key findings from the survey include:

KEY FINDING #1: Working from home makes employees less likely to look for a new job.

44% of employees say working remotely has opened up new job opportunities for them but 60.5% say they are less likely to look for a new job.

• Only 14% say work from home makes them more likely to look and just 6% think remote working puts their job at risk.

KEY FINDING #2: Over half of businesses expect employees will work remotely the majority of the time post-pandemic.

55% of C-Suite executives revealed that they expect their employees will work outside of a corporate office the majority of the time even after the pandemic has subsided. This has major ramifications for IT, HR, and operational/real estate planning.

• It also aligns with employee expectations where 64.5% stated the desire to work from home the majority of the time once the pandemic ends (3+ days/ week).

KEY FINDING #3: Working from home is making employees more productive – much more so than many business leaders think.

75% of employees say they are more effective workers at home averaging a 31% increase in productivity. Business leaders generally agree but are less convinced about the level of improvement.

• 34% of C-Suite executives say their employees are more productive at home, 42% aren't sure or estimate no change.
• Of executives indicating their employees were more effective at home, they estimated a 25.5% increase in productivity – closely aligned with employee estimates.

KEY FINDING #4: Employees are happy with their work from home technology but believe integration (unifying communications, collaboration, virtual desktops etc.), will make them more productive and secure.

77.5% of employees are happy with their company's work from home tech choices. However, employees feel they could be more productive and secure if their solutions were integrated.

• 66.5% of employees feel they would be more productive and 59% believe their work habits would be more secure. IT professionals agree – 60% and 56.5% respectively.
• 45% of businesses are planning to integrate their communications and collaboration services in the next 12 months.

KEY FINDING #5: Most businesses aren't planning any major adjustments to salaries or compensation due to work from home.

92.5% of respondents say their businesses aren't making (or planning) any salary/compensation adjustments for remote workers. 5.5% have made or are considering compensation increases or stipends.

• 13% of employees say working from home has positively increased their compensation. This is likely due to lower work-related expenses such as decreases in commuting, lunches, and work apparel costs.

"Businesses did a great job putting together a variety of solutions when the pandemic hit to ensure their employees could function reasonably at home," said Scott Kinka, Chief Innovation Officer for Evolve IP. "Now, as we see in the survey results, businesses are looking at a way to make these solutions sustainable for the long-term as both executives and employees see the value in a workforce that can be remote the majority of the time.

Kinka continued, "As a result, we're seeing an increase in the number of businesses that are implementing remote work technology integration projects like unifying voice communications via Microsoft Teams direct routing and delivering apps via digital workspaces instead of virtual private networks. We expect this trend to accelerate for the foreseeable future.

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Additional findings from the survey include:

• About 4 in 10 employees (38%) would like to continue to work from home 5 days per week
• Just 6% of employees say they would never like to work from home or do so just a couple of days per month.
• 15.5% of businesses will no longer require employees to come into the office
• 38.5% don't know when employees will be going back to the office and 24.5% believe employees will return in the 2^nd half of 2021
• On average, respondents are using 2.5 devices to work remotely. The top devices are a company-owned laptop (74%) and personal mobile phones (45.5%)
• Organizations are typically making use of 5 different remote work technologies. Top solutions are video conferencing (85%), collaboration (81%), and accessing windows applications via VPN (52%).
• Businesses using Microsoft Teams currently use other video and communications platforms such as Zoom (62%) or Webex (26%) but 50% of those respondents say they plan on integrating their collaboration and communications platforms in the next year.
• Four in ten businesses (39%) plan to increase spending on remote work technologies in 2021.

About the Survey

538 respondents answered questions about their remote work experience via SurveyMonkey in February 2021. Respondents were employed at a broad base of businesses with 38% coming from small businesses (less than 100 employees), 50% coming from mid-market & small enterprise firms (100 – 4,999 employees), and 12% responding from large enterprises (5,000+ employees).

Why Clients Choose Evolve IP

Evolve IP enables employees to Work Anywhere™ productively and securely. Our enterprise solutions seamlessly integrate collaboration & communications, digital workspaces, and contact center – all delivered from a browser on any connected device. Evolve IP's technologies free IT to focus on business innovation, not systems and infrastructure, and enable their employees to contribute even more to the enterprise -- no matter where or when they are working. Businesses that choose Evolve IP have selected a true technology partner. A company that becomes an expert extension of their IT team, an organization that listens to their needs to tailor solutions just for their business, and is responsive and engaged in every interaction.

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