Flexible work & security risks

Unless businesses begin securing corporate data outside the corporate IT infrastructure, the valuable evolution towards flexible working may be short lived, writes Tim R. Dickinson.

Working form home may be the stuff of fantasy but flexible working is now a corporate reality improving staff retention and supporting corporate environmental policies. The near ubiquity of broadband combined with a transformation in the reliability and speed of wireless communications has transformed the viability of home and remote working.

However, flexible working is also proving to be a major business risk as organisations struggle to impose adequate data storage, back up and security policies for remote workers. With increasing volumes of valuable data stored on laptops and home PCs in danger of being lost to the business, and employees being left unproductive with lost or damaged equipment, the flexible working nirvana is losing its shine. It’s the home worker’s laptop, which is rarely backed up and secured, that is truly naked.

Flexible Work Contracts

Organisations are increasingly creating flexible contracts for workers, allowing home working one or two days each week; while customer facing employees are now able to be in constant communication with head office irrespective of global location. In an environment of over crowded trains and roads, the flexibility offered by reliable remote working is delivering improved staff morale, driving down employee turnover and transforming opportunities for organisations to entice part-time staff back into the workplace.

This burgeoning generation of mobile workers has spawned a new era of working practices. No longer chained to the desk, home workers are released to adopt any style of attire, location and time for work—giving rise to the notion of the naked home worker.

Yet while offering many clear benefits, ad hoc policies for home or remote working also create significant corporate risks; risks that extend far beyond generally unfounded fears for employee productivity. Critically, after years of investment in data back up and security within the corporate IT infrastructure, organisations are apparently allowing vital company data to leave the organisation unsecured, unprotected and un-backed up in what is becoming an anarchic remote working environment.