Kaspersky's Securing the Future of Work survey shows 35 percent of small businesses need hardware and software support, compared to 47 percent of larger organizations.
Employees in small companies with fewer than 50 people require less support for the technical implementation of remote work by their employer compared to employees in larger companies. However, when it comes to emotional support, around a quarter of employees in companies of all sizes expect employer support. These results come from a recent survey by Kaspersky.
Strong negative impact on business
In some countries, up to 90 percent of small businesses are feeling the negative effects of the pandemic, such as declines in production and sales or even complete closings. Especially in companies with a dozen or fewer employees, the way employees deal with these challenges can affect the state of the entire company. For managers, it is therefore important to have a good knowledge of the emotional state of their employees, as this can have consequences for the entire company.
A recent survey by Kaspersky shows that there is a discrepancy in expectations regarding support such as welfare or additional benefits such as coverage for internet or telephone bills. For example, 41 percent of employees in small companies with fewer than 50 employees want more support; in medium-sized companies with up to 250 employees, the proportion is 47 percent. The same applies to technical support such as the provision of appropriate devices and IT tools (35 percent versus 41 percent). This can probably be attributed to the fact that employees in small companies are more likely to set up their own work environment, use personal devices for work and take care of access to work services, as there is usually no dedicated IT department.
COVID-19 awakens the desire for emotional support
However, emotional or psychological support seems to be required to the same extent for all company sizes: 23 percent of employees in small organizations and 25 percent in larger organizations want this. COVID-19 and its effects have not only affected people's work and daily life, but have also created fears for their own health and that of their loved ones and dampened general optimism for the future. Psychological support for employees is therefore gaining in importance.
"People who have experience in small businesses seem to be more self-reliant in the new work reality," said Ivan Salikhov, Product Manager SMB Products at Kaspersky. “This has helped their organization focus all resources on the continued existence of the business. However, to maintain employee productivity and morale, it remains important that employees have everything their jobs require. When it comes to technology, employees need help using IT securely – even if they work on private laptops and manage access to all web services themselves.”
Straight to the report at Kaspersky.com
About Kaspersky Kaspersky is an international cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky's in-depth threat intelligence and security expertise serve as the basis for innovative security solutions and services to protect companies, critical infrastructures, governments and private users worldwide. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection as well as a range of specialized security solutions and services to defend against complex and evolving cyber threats. Kaspersky technologies protect over 400 million users and 250.000 corporate customers. More information about Kaspersky can be found at www.kaspersky.com/