IT workers report frequently feeling more like therapists in the workplace
- 7 months ago
IT help or therapist? A new survey has found three in five IT workers have to ‘frequently provide emotional support’ to users when they encounter a cybersecurity issue.
The poll of 2,000 US employees and IT workers revealed some of the most common accidents and mishaps employees have had with their work computers: spilling coffee or water on it (63%), spilling alcohol on it (63%), dropping it (45%) or falling for a phishing attempt (37%).
As a result, 59% of IT workers have to either “always” or “often” calm down users so they can explain what happened.
While cybersecurity threats are on the rise, four in five (79%) IT workers have a high level of trust that their organization’s users can identify and prevent cybersecurity threats themselves.
The feeling is mutual for 81% of employees who stated their IT team was prepared to deal with cybersecurity issues whenever they come up. This is likely due in part to regular cybersecurity education — 40% of IT respondents saying they require training monthly and another 25% offering it quarterly.
Commissioned by LogMeIn Rescue (a GoTo product) and conducted by OnePoll, research revealed despite seemingly being prepared, many still put off reaching out to IT.
An overwhelming majority of employees (94%) admitted they delay contacting IT, stating they will first try their own basic troubleshooting (62%) or be too embarrassed to admit what happened (52%).
Many shared the most common reasons they contact their organization’s support team: from being locked out of their email or computer (60%) to phishing attempts (48%) and internet issues (46%).
IT respondents reported that in more than 60% of these troubleshooting situations, they often or always rely on a remote support or remote access tool to resolve the end user’s issue.
IT workers agreed: they deal with email and computer lockouts most frequently (54%), followed by regularly dealing with forgotten passwords (41%) and complex issues with in-house software (30%).
An alarming 48% of employees reported seeing phishing attempts and 39% said that they have had to reach out to IT for a virus or malware issue on their computer.
The surveys, designed to ask employees and IT professionals separately how they interact with one another, found both groups largely see eye-to-eye on similar issues.
More than four in five (84%) employees said they are aware of how their IT team is supporting their businesses on a daily basis, and 85% in the IT field say they are aware of what users do on their work devices during the workday.
Eighty-four percent of employees find their IT department to be helpful and 76% said their IT team makes it easy to resolve tech-related issues.
Workers also generally find their IT team fast to fix issues — 31% said they tend to respond within an hour. Twenty-three percent said it only takes a couple of minutes, while 15% said the response time is immediate.
The poll of 2,000 US employees and IT workers revealed some of the most common accidents and mishaps employees have had with their work computers: spilling coffee or water on it (63%), spilling alcohol on it (63%), dropping it (45%) or falling for a phishing attempt (37%).
As a result, 59% of IT workers have to either “always” or “often” calm down users so they can explain what happened.
While cybersecurity threats are on the rise, four in five (79%) IT workers have a high level of trust that their organization’s users can identify and prevent cybersecurity threats themselves.
The feeling is mutual for 81% of employees who stated their IT team was prepared to deal with cybersecurity issues whenever they come up. This is likely due in part to regular cybersecurity education — 40% of IT respondents saying they require training monthly and another 25% offering it quarterly.
Commissioned by LogMeIn Rescue (a GoTo product) and conducted by OnePoll, research revealed despite seemingly being prepared, many still put off reaching out to IT.
An overwhelming majority of employees (94%) admitted they delay contacting IT, stating they will first try their own basic troubleshooting (62%) or be too embarrassed to admit what happened (52%).
Many shared the most common reasons they contact their organization’s support team: from being locked out of their email or computer (60%) to phishing attempts (48%) and internet issues (46%).
IT respondents reported that in more than 60% of these troubleshooting situations, they often or always rely on a remote support or remote access tool to resolve the end user’s issue.
IT workers agreed: they deal with email and computer lockouts most frequently (54%), followed by regularly dealing with forgotten passwords (41%) and complex issues with in-house software (30%).
An alarming 48% of employees reported seeing phishing attempts and 39% said that they have had to reach out to IT for a virus or malware issue on their computer.
The surveys, designed to ask employees and IT professionals separately how they interact with one another, found both groups largely see eye-to-eye on similar issues.
More than four in five (84%) employees said they are aware of how their IT team is supporting their businesses on a daily basis, and 85% in the IT field say they are aware of what users do on their work devices during the workday.
Eighty-four percent of employees find their IT department to be helpful and 76% said their IT team makes it easy to resolve tech-related issues.
Workers also generally find their IT team fast to fix issues — 31% said they tend to respond within an hour. Twenty-three percent said it only takes a couple of minutes, while 15% said the response time is immediate.