Half of City employees work on holiday

More than half of City employees will contact the office while on holiday, a new survey has said, revealing the downsides of remote working.

Some 65 per cent will contact the office by phone, text or email while away, according to the Credant Technology survey, which polled 300 city workers in London. Almost all (83 per cent) of those questioned said that they would be taking their mobile phone with them on holiday.

One in three workers said that they would bring the office laptops with them. This was made more concerning by the fact that one in five did not secure their laptop with a password, and 68 per cent did not encrypt their laptop's information.

Credant said that paranoia from employees and unrealistic demands from employers made working on their free time a necessity for many workers. Most worrying of all was that they were accessing the corporate network with many not thinking about the security risks they were taking.

"If any of these devices are lost or stolen, and are unsecured, the cost of the holiday will pale in comparison to the cost of losing the data," said senior vice president for Credant Michael Callahan.

The survey also said that 66 per cent acknowledged that it would be a distressful experience if they lost their mobile device on holiday, with much of their free time taken up informing an employer about the loss.