Workplace Collaboration Survey Finds Tech Industry Employees Three Times More Stressed Working From Home Than Those in Other Industries

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Unify Square, the leading monitoring & management software and services provider for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack platforms, today released survey results around remote collaboration and communication among enterprises. The survey unveils key perspectives of enterprise employees on workplace collaboration and communication in the midst of the global pandemic. Findings highlight gaps in stress levels between workers at different job levels and industries and how increased usage of collaboration and UC applications has impacted the success of internal communication at enterprises.

Zoom Reigns King of Collaboration  
Since COVID-19 forced a large majority of the enterprise workforce into remote work, 72% of companies rolled out at least one new collaboration application. Zoom reigns king with over 50% of enterprises adding the application to their collaboration repertoire, but Microsoft Teams follows closely behind at 43%. 

Lack of Transparency in Security and Governance 
The survey found a substantial disconnect between company leadership and lower-level employees related to the security of data and chats. Over 65% of owners, C-Levels, and executives admitted their organization had experienced security incidents related to collaboration or communications, while 83% of entry-level employees were operating with blinders not believing that their company was at risk of a collaboration mishap.  

Contrary to popular belief, only half of enterprises have implemented heightened governance and security prevention for collaboration applications since moving their workforce to a remote model. 

"Even prior to the sudden departure from traditional workspaces, enterprises across the globe were being faced with countless disruptions and concerns regarding governance and security, for collaboration platforms," said Scott Gode, Chief Marketing Officer, Unify Square. "The need for specialized third-party software, coupled with innovative professional services is more crucial than ever before to help highlight blind spots, and implement and enforce policies to minimize data loss risk."

Tech Workers Are Taking the Brunt of the Stress
It's no surprise that stress levels amongst employees have increased in the wake of the pandemic. Sixty-one percent of technology workers and 63% of c-level employees stated their stress levels have risen since working remotely. Conversely, entry-level employees are able to stay relatively stress-free with only 34% admitting to feeling increased stress.

Potential causes of stress include the personal challenges that employees are experiencing while working from home, such as missing the routine of being in the office (43%), collaborating with colleagues in person (41%), distractions at home (35%), and juggling personal duties on top of work (32%).

Employers Aren't Keen on Fronting the Bill
Getting a home office up to the standards that employees are used to is a challenge for employers and employees alike. Over half of enterprise workers focusing on IT or Security have had to purchase new equipment or hardware (e.g. monitor, headset, webcam) to facilitate their work from home setup, however, only 12% said their employer helped or paid for it all financially. 

Even with the correct equipment and hardware, 42% of enterprise employees ages 18-24 years said that it took about a month to get their home-based office setup at the quality that it did when they were in the office. Yet, 40% of those 55 and older said it worked great from day one, which is a surprising comparison from their tech-savvy younger peers who would be expected to have less difficulty with their setup right off the bat. 

Home Offices Aren't All They're Cracked Up to Be
Interference from pets (48%), someone walking through the background (33%), gardeners/contractors making noise (27%), children making surprise guest appearances (26%), deliveries making noise (26%), power outages (24%), noisy neighbors (21%), and cleaning service vacuuming or cleaning around your workspace (9%) were all noted as culprits for distractions while on a conference call. 

When the home office wasn't quite doing it for them, 22% of those ages 65 and older admitted to taking conference calls from unconventional locations including the closet, in a car, on a boat, in a store, from a child's sporting event, and even from the bathroom. 

Gaps in Productivity Perspectives
Perspectives on remote productivity become a major point of contention among enterprises and their employees. Nearly half of tech workers believe that there is a higher set of standards for productivity within their company since working remotely. 

The survey unveiled some gaps in perspectives around efficiency across job levels. Forty-four percent of owners, executives, and C-levels believe collaboration with teammates has become much more efficient since moving to a remote model, while only 11% of senior management agree. Yet 44% of employees said their organization has not taken any steps to help facilitate teamwork in a remote environment.

Take a deeper look into the results, by tuning in to Unify Square's recent panel discussion, Uncovering New Unified Communication and Collaboration Platform Insights for 2021. Stay tuned for the full report and eBook that will be released in the upcoming weeks. 

About the Research
Unify Square commissioned a survey of nearly 600 full-time enterprise employees working at organizations with at least 500 employees.

• Industries surveyed: technology, consumer, healthcare, education, finance, manufacturing, legal, transportation, insurance, and more
• Ages surveyed: 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+
• Job levels surveyed: entry-level, middle management, senior management, owner/executive/c-suite

About Unify Square
Unify Square's software and services optimize and enhance the world's largest collaboration and communication deployments, helping businesses manage and secure their meetings, chats & calls. The company's PowerSuite software creates a unified dashboard to surface actionable insights and help manage collaboration platforms -- optimizing and transforming performance health and user effectiveness. Founded by Microsoft product visionaries, Unify Square has become a global elite partner for Microsoft, Slack, and Zoom. Unify Square solutions have delivered value to more than 6 million collaboration seats, in over 300 enterprises across more than 50 countries, and in most major industry verticals. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, Unify Square also has offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, India, Australia, and Lithuania.

SOURCE Unify Square

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