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Nearly 80 percent of respondents to Citrix polls say they’ll work on flexible models, with more than 72 percent planning to remain fully remote.
While many employers continue to push for a return to the days of old where all employees are in the office all the time, new research reveals this isn’t likely to happen. According to recent polls conducted by Citrix Systems, Inc. on LinkedIn and Twitter, nearly 80 percent of employees plan to work on flexible models in the year ahead, with more than 72 percent indicating they’ll remain fully remote.
“Employees have come to realize that work will never be the same, and rather than waiting for a return to 'normal,' they’re shaping a new, more flexible future that empowers them to work when, where and how they work best,” said Tim Minahan, Executive Vice President of Business Strategy, Citrix.
When asked how they plan to work in 2022, more than 13,000 respondents to the Citrix polls said:
Remote full time (72.6 percent)
In the office full time (27.7 percent)
Hybrid (79.9 percent)
Their decisions are based on what they have learned through the grand remote-work experiment as to what works best for them when it comes to getting things done. And as comments posted within the poll reveal, they run the gamut:
“I find working from home hugely productive (in the hours the kids aren't in the house anyway). But interacting in real time with colleagues is amazing too. Hybrid all the way for me when the rules allow me to do so.”
“I have saved the company a ton of office costs, a ton on automotive expenses, reduced global warming, increased project success, and increased my family time. 100% WFH is the way to go.”
“As our polls make clear, flexible work is not a temporary thing,” Minahan said. “Smart employers will take heed and adapt their work models to meet changing employee needs and position themselves to succeed in the new world of work.”
Citrix delivers a complete digital workspace platform that enables companies to deliver secure remote work by providing simple, consistent and reliable access to everything people need, to get work done, wherever it needs to get done. Click here to learn more about this platform and the value it can deliver.
IT Leaders Prioritize Secure Remote Work
Respondents to Citrix survey see enabling distributed collaboration as job number one.
Two years ago, IT leaders were forced into remote work. Many viewed it as a temporary experiment. Today, they see it for what it is: the future of work. And they’ve made it their top priority. According to the results of a Pulse survey conducted by Citrix, 100 percent of 400 IT and security leaders across North America, EMEA, and APAC have adopted the hybrid model, and rank enabling it as job number one for their organizations.
“In 2020, IT was focused on survival amid the great remote work pressure test. In 2021, they overhauled their infrastructure and strategies to accommodate this new model. And in 2022, they will enact flexible technology strategies and workplace policies to deliver what is clearly the future of work,” said Meerah Rajavel, Chief Information Officer, Citrix.
Leading the Charge
Business leaders who once bristled at the idea of remote work because they didn’t think employees could deliver outside the office now see the benefits it can deliver in terms of employee productivity and experience. They are calling on IT to enable it, and as revealed by the Citrix-Pulse survey, they’re answering.
When asked to rank their top five priorities over the next five years, respondents said:
Enabling distributed collaboration
Ensuring always-on availability
Empowering individual focus
Providing a consistent, consumer-like experience from device to device and location to location
Automating work
Leaping Hurdles
But they’ll face some challenges in executing. When asked to identify the top obstacles to driving digital transformation, Citrix survey participants cited:
Lack of understanding the needs across the business to effectively prioritize investments (41 percent)
Cumbersome, complex infrastructure (34 percent)
Lack of investment in cloud (24 percent)
Security is also a concern. When asked what they see as the top risks opened by remote and hybrid work, those polled called out:
Ransomware attacks (41 percent)
Insider threats (18 percent)
API/software breaches and vulnerabilities (16 percent)
Phishing and cloud-related attacks (15 percent)
And, their teams are stretched to the max, with respondents noting:
70 percent are working more hours
56 percent are leaving
50 percent are experiencing decreased productivity
49 percent are less satisfied with their jobs
24 percent are disengaged
Pushing Forward
How do the leaders polled plan to overcome these challenges? By focusing on seven key things:
Bridging the cybersecurity gap (32 percent)
Managing the pace of digital acceleration with cybersecurity investment (29 percent)
Zero Trust Network Access (14 percent)
Vendor consolidation/simplification (13 percent)
Security AI and automation (7 percent)
App/API protection and/or browser isolation for SaaS and web apps (3 percent)
Acceleration to SASE (2 percent)
“When it comes to securing a workforce that cycles in and out of the office, ensuring an even playing field for collaboration and supporting employees through what remains a time of unprecedented upheaval, IT can no longer afford to make yesterday’s compromises between distributed collaboration and security,” Rajavel said. “Instead, they must implement solutions and strategies that help them balance these seemingly competing priorities and chart a new course that allows them to deliver the future of flexible work.”
Citrix provides a powerful set of secure access solutions that combine a full cloud-delivered security stack integrated with identity-aware Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to give employees the freedom and choice to work when, where and how they choose, while ensuring that corporate information and devices remain safe. Click here to learn more about these solutions and how you can use them to build a workplace that wins.
About Citrix
Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) builds the secure, unified digital workspace technology that helps organizations unlock human potential and deliver a consistent workspace experience wherever work needs to get done. With Citrix, users get a seamless work experience, and IT has a unified platform to secure, manage, and monitor diverse technologies in complex cloud environments.