Freely subscribe to our NEWSLETTER

Most employees take their work devices on vacation

According to the responses of 1,000 workers from across EMEA, almost a third (29%) report that they always take their work devices on vacation, with another 35% saying they bring them most of the time and 15% taking them some of time. There were also some notable regional trends around professional devices and personal travel taken from the global survey of 3,000 workers:

• Workers in the Asia Pacific region have the toughest time disconnecting. They were most likely to always bring their work devices with them on vacation (37%), and also the least likely to leave them at home (18%).
• Europeans appear to have the best work-life balance with just 29% indicating they always bring their work device on vacation. However, 35% 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 36% report that they always bring their work devices, another 26% say they would never bring them along. US workers had the highest rate of leaving work devices at home out of all the regions.
New or senior staff are most likely to bring – and lose – work devices
Seniority also correlated to employee behaviour, but with a twist. Almost half of those with vice presidents or higher titles as well as 40% of directors said they always take their work devices on vacation. At the other end of the hierarchy, 38% of interns reported always taking their devices.

These individuals were also most susceptible to having their devices lost or stolen. Vice presidents took the lead with 73% reporting they have had a work device go missing on vacation, followed by 61% of interns.

Loss is the exception, but workers don’t always act when it does occur
Almost half (48%) of the total EMEA survey group said they have never lost a work device while on vacation. But for those respondents who have, a significant number did not report it as quickly as they could – or should – have.

Less than half (45%) of respondents said they contacted their company when the work device was lost or stolen. Of those, only 28% reported the loss immediately, while a quarter (25%) waited until the next day and 23% did so within 48 hours. Just 1% waited until they returned from their trip.

IT teams need visibility, and vacation

“When workers take their work devices on holiday, it increases the potential risk of device loss for companies,” said Alastair Pooley, CIO at Snow. “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.”

Beyond compliance and security concerns, there is a workforce risk when employees don’t disconnect for vacation. Studies such as the Allianz Vacation Confidence Index have shown that employees who skimp on taking time off put themselves at risk for professional burnout and even clinical depression. Workers don’t just rob themselves of their own time off – they create an environment where IT has to stay connected around the clock to deal with personnel travel mishaps.

“We need to ensure everything works no matter where an employee is or what time zone they are in, so taking devices on the road during peak travel season does impact the IT team’s workload,” added Pooley. “While IT staff are a highly dedicated group and will often interrupt their own holidays to help in a crisis, everyone in an organisation, including IT, should be encouraged to disconnect and refresh.”