Hybrid work setup will stay despite security concerns: Entrust

97% of Singaporean employees prefer a hybrid work environment. 

Hybrid work setup will continue but there are still security concerns in the working scheme, according to a survey by Entrust.

According to the Securing the New Hybrid Workplace study, Entrust said the majority of the respondent companies are moving to a “long-term hybrid workplace approach,” with 85% of leaders and 87% of employees saying their company is currently working under a hybrid model or is fully remote and considering a hybrid work model.

However, there are top security challenges, with 67% of employees reporting up to six instances of lost productivity due to network access issues, and 20% of leaders cite home internet security, and 20% cited leakage of sensitive company data.

It also said that 97% of Singaporean employees are in favour of a hybrid work environment, which is the highest amongst the 10 countries surveyed.

The survey also said that employers are leaning toward hybrid work options, with 73% saying they are considering hiring talents that reside in diverse locations.

Entrust also said that businesses need to change their data security approach as their employees are more decentralised, with data security training becoming a priority for leaders. Three in four companies have offered employees training on it, whilst 85% of leaders reported that the training was a result of remote work due to the pandemic.

The study also found that business leaders are improving their training methods, rolling out new or improved collaboration tools and implementing mobile ID issuance for remote employees.

They are also taking initiatives to maintain internal security under a hybrid work model, with 52% rolling out one-time password technology, 40% using biometric authentication, and 37% using mobile identity verification, to keep safe from hackers and protect their internal data.

The study also found that employees in Asia are less confident about their company’s level of data protection when working remotely, with 66% of employees in Singapore and 86% in Japan expressing lack of confidence, whilst 62% of employees in the United States said that they are confident.

The study involved 1,500 business leaders and 1,500 employees in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Japan, and Singapore, 150 from each respective group per country.