AUDIO: How to get the boss to let you work remotely

SUNNYVALE
September 17, 2007 12:01am

Managers are becoming more comfortable with their staff working remotely, although concerns remain about the impact of the remote work force on employee productivity, effective teambuilding and computer security, according to a recent survey paid for by SonicWALL (NASDAQ: SNWL) of Sunnyvale.

More than half of the respondents believe that offering their employees the ability to work remotely is a competitive necessity – or at minimum a motivating perk for employees, according to the survey.

Working remotely is also growing, says SonicWALL, with more than a third of the 1,184 managers surveyed having employees who work out of the office more than 20 percent of the time.

But concerns about potential security breaches resulting from remote access were top-of-mind for almost a quarter of the survey managers who had no policy in place for securing remote access.

"Our findings confirm that the majority of IT managers need to reassess their plans for safely connecting remote workers to corporate network resources," says Steve Franzese, vice president of marketing at SonicWALL.

(Mr. Franzese talks about the survey results in our CVBT Audio Interview. Please click on the link below to listen or download to your iPod or other MP3 player or PC.)

Just where their remote workers are toiling matters to managers, the survey says.

Most (22 percent) prefer to think of their staff working from home, followed by 16 percent who find working from hotel business centers acceptable. Coffee shops airports, public libraries and wireless hotspots received limited support - between 6 percent and 9 percent. Fewer than 2 percent of managers would look kindly on workers who choose a wired beach, pool or stadium from which to conduct business.

SonicWALL makes broadband network security hardware and software.

The survey results are based on responses from 1,184 managers in the U.S. and Australia. The polling was done by InsightExpress.