GFI Software Report Sheds Light on State of the Small Business Employee

DURHAM, N.C., Dec. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- GFI^® Software today announced the results of a wide-ranging scientific study that provides a profile of the American small business employee. Designed and implemented by a noted polling expert, the nationally-representative 2013 State of the Small Business Employee Report gauges respondents' opinions on a number of pertinent issues affecting small businesses today.

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In a statistically-valid survey with a ±4.2% margin of error fielded by GfK Group, formerly Knowledge Networks, between September 28 and October 7, 2013, 1,119 respondents who work in organizations with between two and 99 employees answered questions about such things as their level of job satisfaction, how they use social media, how they connect to their company networks, how they feel about their management teams, their confidence in protection from cybercrime, and much more.

Key findings from the report include:

• Nearly 6 in 10 respondents (59%) said that if they could snap their fingers and remove from the Internet all information that someone could find about them personally, they would.
• 87% of respondents admitted they feel at least some risk of becoming the victim of identity theft or another crime while using work computer systems. This number includes 6% who see "a great deal" of risk and 37% who perceive "some" risk.
• 75% of small business employees surveyed said mobile computing has improved their lives because they can work from anywhere, as opposed to 25% who said it has made life more stressful because it's harder to escape work.
• 33% of respondents said they use social networks for personal reasons while they are working; 18% of these respondents admitted it makes them less productive.
• Nearly all respondents with employer-owned mobile computing devices said they use them for things not related to work; 22% said they do so often, 38% sometimes and 30% rarely.
• 37% of small business employees surveyed said they use Facebook at least daily.
• Among workers at small businesses that have IT support on staff or on contract, only 53% said their company has written policies governing work computer use, and 24% who do admitted having violated those policies.
• 81% of respondents indicated that they are satisfied with their job overall, compared with only 68% of all full-time US employees surveyed in a Rutgers University Heidrich Center for Workforce Development study of January 2013.
• Asked to grade the management team where they work, more than half gave an A (22%) or B (38%), 27% said C, 10% gave a D and 3% flunked their management. The average grade came out to a B-minus.
• 43% of small business employees have connected to their work networks remotely using a mobile computing device.
• 7% acknowledge they have at some point lost a mobile computing device that contained company data.
• Only 36% of respondents said their employer's computers are set up to block them from visiting certain websites.

"While small businesses are subject to many of the same market forces as large enterprises, it's important to differentiate how the universal trends that drive all businesses impact them uniquely and specifically," said Sergio Galindo, head of global product management, GFI Software. "As a company that delivers solutions to these smaller organizations through a mix of on-premise, cloud or managed services, knowing the user base and how they interact with technology is essential to our success."

The full report and a document with the full survey questionnaire and responses are available from GFI Software by visiting http://www.gfi.com/pages/2013-small-business-employee-survey. Also available by request is the complete survey dataset (SPSS format) and detailed methodology disclosure statement from GfK Group, formerly Knowledge Networks.

About GFI
GFI Software™ develops quality IT solutions for small to mid-sized businesses with generally up to 1,000 users. GFI^® offers two main technology solutions: GFI MAX™, which enables managed service providers (MSPs) to deliver superior services to their customers; and GFI Cloud™, which empowers companies with their own internal IT teams to manage and maintain their networks via the cloud. Serving an expanding customer base of more than 200,000 companies, GFI's product line also includes collaboration, network security, anti-spam, patch management, faxing, mail archiving and web monitoring. GFI is a channel-focused company with thousands of partners throughout the world. The company has received numerous awards and industry accolades, and is a longtime Microsoft^® Gold ISV Partner.

For more information
GFI Software
Please email David Kelleher at [email protected]
GFI - Malta: Tel: +356 2205 2000; Fax: +356 21382419
URL: http://www.gfi.com

Davies Murphy Group
Please email Brian Alberti at [email protected]
GFI – U.S.: Tel: +1-781-418-2403

Disclaimer
Copyright © 2013 GFI Software. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. To the best of our knowledge, all details were correct at the time of publishing; this information is subject to change without notice

SOURCE GFI Software