People are working longer hours, in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic and the mass increase in remote work. New data from NordVPN Teams show not only a massive spike in business VPN usage but also people working on average 2 hours longer than usual.
The US increased their average workday by almost 40%, adding an extra 3 hours — the largest jump worldwide. The UK, France, Canada, and Spain are seeing a 2-hour increase.
“The data also revealed that employees are starting work earlier, but finishing at the same time,” says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN Teams. “This is perhaps because people are not commuting and instead, of sitting in traffic, they choose to work.”
Business
VPN usage skyrocketed in Canada, Austria, and the Netherlands, growing
by over 200%. Interestingly, Italians showed a modest 10% growth, which
coincided with a widely-reported spike in usage on home networks, many
of which might lack the necessary protection for remote work.
The UK seems to be preparing the most. NordVPN Teams sales in the country grew by 400%, highlighting a growing trend: companies need powerful cloud-based security to go remote.
“The sharp increase seen by NordVPN Teams once again shows how unprepared companies are for such situations,” says Markuson. “According to Gartner, large corporations with 10,000 people or more can accommodate only 10% of their employees to work from home.”
He believes cloud-based VPNs are becoming extremely popular due to their simple ‘plug & play’ set up. New clients can be set up quickly, and more importantly, remotely. For example, NordVPN Teams are setting up, on average, 200 users per hour.
