(13.07.2022) Remote work is less favored by employers. A report from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (FHNW) shows that after having risen to 38% during the first lockdown in 2020, the proportion of remote work positions fell to 12% at the beginning of 2022.
The report "Teleworking and Cybersecurity in Swiss SMEs", which is the result of three studies conducted on 504 SMEs across the country, shows that the rate of home-based employees correlated significantly with the severity of the health restrictions. Before the pandemic, only 10% of workstations were occupied by remote workers. This proportion rose to 38% during the first lockdown in spring 2020, fell to 16% in the second half of 2020, and rose dramatically to 36% during the second lockdown in 2021. After the end of the health restrictions, only 12% of SME staff still work from home.
The perception of telecommuting has also shifted slightly. In 2020 and 2021, 67% and 65% of SMEs respectively considered all or part of their jobs suited for telework. In 2022, this has dropped to 61%.
Meanwhile, the same number of SMEs still consider cybersecurity to be moderately or highly important (64%), while a minority (14%) consider it to be of little or no importance. After having significantly increased between 2020 and 2021, from 25% to 36%, the proportion of companies suffering from cyberattacks has fallen to 31% in 2022.
Software updates and Wi-Fi network password protection are common security measures among SMEs (86% and 82%, respectively). However, organizational measures such as the implementation of a security strategy or staff training are still relatively neglected (only 44% and 34% of the companies prioritize these types of measures), which, according to the report, indicates a significant potential for improvement in this area.
Last modification 13.07.2022
