Busting the Myths of Hybrid Work

MYTH 3 NOW LIVE

When it comes to setting hybrid work in motion, companies are rich in enthusiasm but sorely lacking in plans, according to a recent McKinsey report. Nine out of 10 organizations recognize the inevitability of combining the flexibility of working from anywhere with the energy of in-office interactions. But most business leaders have only just started to launch a hybrid strategy, leaving them ill-equipped to succeed in a changing world.

This puts us at a critical juncture, one where the benefits of hybrid work could be undermined by a set of preconceived—and unexamined—notions. Working from home leads to lower productivity, many people think. Or it subverts company culture. Or it opens the door to cyberattacks.

But what if those assumptions are wrong? And what if holding onto this outdated thinking is what poses the real threat to the success of the hybrid model? To make this new way of working stick, it’s important to operate under a shared set of facts. We can start by shattering the biggest misperceptions surrounding hybrid work.

51%

of Global Knowledge Workers will be hybrid by the end of 2021, up from 27% in 2019

Source: Gartner®

MYTH 1

MYTH 2

MYTH 3

MYTH

Hybrid Workers Are More Vulnerable to Cyberattack

Doing some work out of the office, even on personal devices, isn’t inherently more risky. What created vulnerabilities during the hybrid work surge was a lack of security preparation.

WFH ≠ More Risk of Attack

Remote work creates more distributed computer networks, but that doesn’t necessarily create more risk of cyberattack. Data shows that as more people returned to offices last summer, the number of cyber incidents actually increased.

26.4%

The less people worked exclusively from home, either fully or partially...

26.4%

The less people worked exclusively from home, either fully or partially...

...the more data breaches were reported in the U.S.

Sources: Identity Theft Resource Center; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (July 2020-June 2021)

Holistic Protection for Hybrid Work

SASE is a secure, scalable framework that gives your company a full view of the cyber threat landscape, so protection follows employees anywhere they work.

Companies can potentially save up to

$1.4 Million

per incident if they improve their methods for preventing cyberattacks

Source: Ponemon Institute

“Vulnerability can be attributed to companies sending employees home without instituting proper security measures. If you leave the doors open, they will not be more secure for sure.“

— Andre Leibovici | Principal Security Product Marketing, Citrix

~45%

of IT leaders acknowledged their companies didn’t perform cybersecurity training or analyses during the work-from-home transition

Source: Malwarebytes

Mind your myths quiz:

What % of IT leaders say their organizations have enough cybersecurity protections?

Select One

77%

55%

22%

Source: IDG survey

MYTH 2

Going All-in on Hybrid Work

Means Going All-in on the Cloud

Citrix helps organizations deliver a consistent and secure work experience no matter where work needs to get done—in the office, at home, or in the field. Our digital workspace solutions give each employee the resources and space they need to do their very best work. And our platform brings user experience, IT flexibility and security together to foster innovation, resilience and business continuity — all while removing the limits of geography, devices, networks and even clouds to deliver a better employee experience.

1 Press Release, Gartner Forecasts 51% of Global Knowledge Workers Will Be Remote by the End of 2021, June 22, 2021

2 IDG survey conducted on behalf of Fortune 500 technology services provider Insight Enterprises

MYTH

Going All-in on Hybrid Work Means Going All-in on the Cloud

Can too much of the cloud be a bad thing? Theoretically, no. But when the cloud limits the way your workforce accesses data and software? A hard yes. Cloud-only options also can be costly, slow to implement and may pose security and compliance issues.

A hybrid cloud model, on the other hand, offers the best way to keep up with the changing demands and multiple locations of the hybrid workforce.

A hybrid cloud means

Flexibility to handle any kind of data from any location.

The power to scale up or down depending on needs.

Reduced infrastructure costs.

Secure and seamless access to data and programs across all networks.

The Harmony of Hybrids

Why the hybrid cloud is a perfect fit for hybrid work

The Hybrid Cloud Makes It Rain

For five years in a row, saving money on cloud spend is the top priority for IT leaders, a recent survey shows. Enter the hybrid cloud, which has saved some companies as much as 20% in annual network infrastructure expenses.

61%

of IT leaders are seeking cost savings

59%

want to migrate more workloads to the cloud

45%

are pursuing better financial reporting on cloud costs

Source: Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report

All-in Can Be Expensive, Whether Public or Private Cloud

For Public Cloud

54%

say high costs are a pain point

For Private Cloud

46%

say high costs are a pain point

Source: IDC

How Does Hybrid Cut Costs?

Requires less physical space than a private cloud

Uses public-cloud resources only when needed

Adapts quickly and efficiently to changing workload needs

Source: Citrix

"A hybrid cloud gives you the flexibility to add new instances of both on-premises and public cloud resources as you need them. So, if everybody had to work from home in a snowstorm, you can spin up a lot more instances in the cloud on-demand. Everybody goes back to the office, you shut them back down, and avoid unnecessary infrastructure costs."

Carisa Stringer, Director, Citrix

Hybrid Cloud Quiz

By 2022, what % of enterprises will be using a hybrid cloud solution?

Select One

20%

60%

90%

A Cloud for All Reasons

How do the strengths of the hybrid cloud stack up against the strongest points of other data storage solutions?

Legend

Security

Compliance

Seamless Data Sharing

Cost Savings

Flexibility

Scalability

Hybrid Cloud

Public Cloud

Private Cloud

On Premises

MYTH 1

Hybrid Workers Are

More Vulnerable to Cyberattack

MYTH 3

As Hybrid Work Goes Up,

Productivity Goes Down

MYTH

As Hybrid Work Goes Up, Productivity Goes Down

There’s one thing employees have in common, regardless of age, gender, earnings or family situation: a pervasive desire to work from home at least one day a week. Those feelings are even stronger among employees who grew up in the digital world (and who now make up most of the workforce). These “born digital” employees feel that working hybrid rivals the office in terms of productivity, and provides more creativity and wellbeing than an office setting, a recent Citrix survey found.

In Office Workers

52%

still say the office is the best place for productivity

Hybrid Workers

13%

more efficient working from home, a study showed

While business leaders recognize that hybrid work is here to stay, 52% still say the office is the best place for productivity, the survey shows.

But the data begs to differ. Well before Covid, economists found that employees allowed to work from home were 13% more efficient. And a recent Leesman Index survey showed that employees felt they could do a whole range of work-related tasks—from meetings to reading to creative thinking—more easily at home.

In other words, embracing hybrid work doesn’t mean compromising business goals. With the right tools and culture, it can mean exceeding them.

Mental Myth Making

By what percentage will working from home increase U.S. productivity post-pandemic?

Select One

+3%

+5%

+1%

“What’s been really surprising is that people still think hybrid work means less work, when the productivity data shows otherwise. I think company culture and lack of management training and empowerment are influencing views, versus the reality of the data.”

Alysia Eve,
Director of Product Marketing, Citrix

The ROI of a Happier Employee

Productivity rises when your teams can work flexibly and fast.

What Makes Remote Work More (or Less) Productive

Americans who reported high WFH efficiency credited these two advantages the most:

85.5%

Less commuting time

64.9%

Quiet
space

Source: WFH Research, 2021

Americans who reported low WFH efficiency credited these two disadvantages the most:

49.9%

Tasks can’t be performed remotely

25.4%

Inadequate equipment

Source: WFH Research, 2021

A Culture of Productivity

Companies that know how to deliver the best employee experience (EX) focus on three things, according to a recent survey of IT, Real Estate and HR leaders:

Culture

The energy of a company, or how it feels to interact with colleagues and work for the organization.

The top cultural factor (cited by 40%) that contributes to a positive EX is a flexible work environment.

Digital Space

The digital tools that enable employees to work effectively at any time.

EX Advanced organizations are 2x more likely to prioritize access to the technology needed for employees to do their jobs than EX Learners.

Physical Space

The environment where employees work—from office desks to remote spaces.

The physical office plays a critical role in the hybrid work world, and is seen as the “space to collaborate” by two-thirds of all organizations surveyed.

Source: Citrix, Thrive With Employee Experience report

MYTH 1

Hybrid Workers Are

More Vulnerable to Cyberattack

MYTH 2

Going All-in on Hybrid Work

Means Going All-in on the Cloud

busting-the-myths-of-hybrid-work