More than Half (54%) of Employed Americans Say They Are Frustrated by On-the-Job Data Loss; More than 1 in 10 American Workers Would Rather Lose a Spouse or Partner than Critical Data

TAMPA, FL – Sep. 18, 2014 — /BackupReview.info/ — TeamViewer®, one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online meetings software, today announced the findings of its airbackup Employee Behavioral Study. The research examines the behavior and attitudes of American office workers and how they affect on-the-job data loss. The national survey, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of TeamViewer in August 2014, reveals that men are much more irresponsible than women when it comes to putting critical company files at risk. Nearly half of employed men (46%) admit to being likely to lose the electronic device they use for work and all the important company files on it, compared to only 27% of employed women. Young employed men are the most likely to lose their electronic device, with a whopping 60% of men ages 18-34-years-old owning up to, compared to 30% of women in the same age group.

Executives in many organizations may frown upon the news that more than one-third (37%) of employed Americans in all say they are likely to lose the electronic device (smartphone, tablet or laptop) they use for work.

The most common places to lose devices include:

  • A car (15%)
  • A restaurant (13%)
  • A hotel (13%)
  • On a train or bus (11%)
  • A plane (10%)

Data loss affects a wide swathe of American workers, with more than half (54%) revealing they are frustrated by on-the-job data loss.

Among the top sources of frustration are:

  • Power failure just as they’ve finished working on something important (31%)
  • Not being able to find a file they know they have at work (26%)
  • Lost company files that they’ve spent time working on (23%)
  • Replacing a lost electronic device that they use for work (13%)
  • Lost company files on a lost electronic device (11%)

The study suggests there is a need to raise awareness for the significance of data loss in small and medium-sized businesses. Nearly one-third (31%) of employees say they are concerned about losing data at work, according to the new survey from airbackup. Those who work at larger companies (101 to 500 employees) express the most concern about data loss, with nearly half (48%) confirming that it’s something that worries them. More than one-third (33%) of those who work at a company with less than 10 employees are concerned about data loss, while more than a quarter (28%) of those at a company with 10-50 employees are worried.

Yet the survey indicates that concern alone is not enough. More than one-third (37%) of those working at a company with 101-500 employees admit to engaging in activities that put company files at risk. By contrast, only a quarter of those who work at a company with less than 10 employees and nearly a quarter (22%) of workers at a company with 10-50 employees confess to such behavior.

The most common risky behaviors committed by workers include:

  • Failing to lock their computer when they leave their desk (16%)
  • Clicking on links from unfamiliar senders (10%)
  • Sharing passwords (10%)
  • Viewing questionable content on a company computer (8%)
  • Failing to store information on the server (5%)

American workers consider protection of critical data so important, that more than one in 10 would rather lose a spouse or partner, their hair, credits cards or sex life than the files on their personal or work computer.

“With a significant portion of the American workforce expressing such alarm about company data loss and admitting to engaging in risky activities that put important files at risk, the results of the airbackup Employee Behavioral Study point to a real problem in offices across the country,” said Manfred Müller, Head of Sales at TeamViewer. “TeamViewer’s airbackup is committed to delivering the best solution for businesses to protect important company files, and save money with an easy to use, effective and highly secure cloud-based data backup system that enables effortless backup automation.”

TeamViewer’s airbackup supports organizations with safeguarding their business data without the use of an on-premise backup infrastructure. airbackup uses BackupBoost™ technology, which means extremely fast and effective data analysis, deduplication and powerful data compression. Airbackup does incremental backup on a block level, so only altered and new data blocks are transmitted. The retention of all deleted files guarantees that office workers don’t need to worry if they delete a file by accident. airbackup also comes with maximum security: The 256 bit AES encryption works with a private key users generate during the set-up process to ensure that the data is protected from unauthorized access at any time. All data is locally encrypted before the data transfer so that no one, not even the airbackup support professionals, can access it. airbackup can be downloaded at www.airbackup.com.

About TeamViewer
Founded in 2005, TeamViewer is fully focused on the development and distribution of high-end solutions for online communication, collaboration and remote monitoring of IT systems. Available in over 30 languages and with more than 200 million users worldwide, TeamViewer is one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online meeting software. airbackup, a powerful cloud-based backup solution, and ITbrain, a valuable remote monitoring and IT asset tracking solution, complement TeamViewer’s product portfolio. For more information, visit: www.teamviewer.com

© 2014 TeamViewer GmbH. All rights reserved.

TeamViewer contact:
TeamViewer GmbH
Axel Schmidt
Jahnstraße 30
73037 Goeppingen
Germany
Tel.: +49-(0)7161-60692-50
Fax: +49-(0)7161-60692-79
E-mail: aschmidt@teamviewer.com
Web: http://teamviewer.com

Press contact:
Grayling
Sara Black
Tel.: 213.618.1501
Email: sara.black@grayling.com

Source: TeamViewer

 

Tags: ,