Most workers intend to take their employer-provided devices with them on holiday. As technology continues to blur the lines between professional and personal lives, a study suggests taking work away with you is the new normal despite the increased potential for mental burnout, device loss and data exposure. This always-on behaviour limits IT’s opportunity to take their own vacations, it’s claimd.
According to the responses of 1,000 workers from across EMEA, almost a third (29pc) report that they always take their work devices on vacation, with another 35pc saying they bring them most of the time and 15pc taking them some of time. Europeans appear to have the best work-life balance with just 29pc indicating they always bring their work device on vacation. However, 35pc said they still bring their work devices with them most of the time, making it the most common response for workers from Europe. American workers have the most polarised approach to bringing work devices on personal trips. While 36pc report that they always bring their work devices, another 26pc say they would never bring them along. US workers had the highest rate of leaving work devices at home out of all the regions.
Seniority also correlated to employee behaviour, but with a twist. Almost half of those with vice presidents or higher titles as well as 40pc of directors said they always take their work devices on vacation. At the other end of the hierarchy, 38pc of interns reported always taking their devices. These were also most susceptible to having their devices lost or stolen. Vice presidents took the lead with 73pc reporting they have had a work device go missing on vacation, followed by 61pc of interns.
Almost half (48pc) of the total EMEA survey group said they have never lost a work device while on vacation. But for those who have, a significant number did not report it as quickly as they could – or should – have. Less than half (45pc) of respondents said they contacted their company when the work device was lost or stolen. Of those, only 28pc reported the loss immediately, while a quarter (25pc) waited until the next day and 23pc did so within 48 hours. Just 1pc waited until they returned from their trip.
Alastair Pooley, CIO at Snow, a Swedish software company that was behind the study, said: “When workers take their work devices on holiday, it increases the potential risk of device loss for companies. However, even if employees leave their work device at home, companies could still be at risk. An additional challenge presented by the increase in the use of cloud services is the likelihood that employees will log in from personal devices and store sensitive data on non-work machines. As enforcement of regulations like GDPR increases, the real risk facing organisations is not losing an encrypted device, rather it is losing the data due to employee behaviour. IT teams need to ensure they maintain control over the entire technology ecosystem.”
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