Employees Work Extra Hours During COVID-19 Mandated WFH
According to Gartner, corporations with 10,000 people have the capacity to accommodate only 10% of their employees to work from home (WFH).
People are working longer hours, in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic and the mass increase in remote work. New data from NordVPN Teams show not only a massive spike in business VPN usage but also people working on average 2 hours longer than usual.
The US increased their average workday by almost 40%, adding an extra 3 hours – the largest jump worldwide. The UK, France, Canada, and Spain are seeing a 2-hour increase.
“The data as well revealed that employees are starting work earlier, but finishing at the same time. This is perhaps because people are not commuting, and instead of sitting in traffic, they choose to work,” explains Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN Teams.
Business VPN usage skyrocketed in Canada, Austria, and the Netherlands, growing by over 200%. Interestingly, Italians showed a modest 10% growth, which coincided with a widely-reported spike in usage on home networks, many of which might lack the necessary protection for remote work.
The UK seems to be preparing the most. NordVPN Teams sales in the country grew by 400%, highlighting a growing trend: companies need powerful cloud-based security to go remote.
“The sharp increase seen by NordVPN Teams once again shows how unprepared companies are for such situations. According to Gartner, large corporations with 10,000 people or more can accommodate only 10% of their employees to work from home (WFH),” says Daniel Markuson, the digital privacy expert at NordVPN Teams.
According to Markuson, cloud-based VPNs are becoming extremely popular due to their simple ‘plug & play’ set up. New clients can be set up quickly, and more importantly, remotely. For example, NordVPN Teams are setting up, on average, 200 users per hour. “Another important aspect is that NordVPN Teams is operating at less than 20% server capacity. We keep connecting new servers to satisfy the growing demand,” explains the NordVPN Teams expert.
NordVPN Teams is a cybersecurity solution for business from the world’s most advanced VPN service provider NordVPN. NordVPN Teams has a full range of features to ensure convenience and powerful digital protection for small and medium enterprises, freelancers, and remote teams. NordVPN Teams offers advanced 256-bit encryption, ad and malware blocking, unsecured traffic prevention, automatic connection on Wi-Fi networks, and 24/7 customer support with a dedicated manager.
