International Survey Confirms Employees Mistrust BYOD Policies

The “bring your own device” phenomenon isn’t restricted to Canada, or even North America. Apparently, neither is the fact that the majority of employees do not trust their employers’ BYOD policies. A survey outlined in a recently published article by Sophie Curtis in the U.K.’s Telegraph confirms it.

The article states that in a survey of almost 3,000 American, German and British employees, only 30% of respondents stated that they trusted their employer to maintain their personal information and “not use it against them in any way”. Interestingly, trust was geographically based. The British employees were the most trusting (34% trusted their employers) and German employees were the least trusting (only 24% trusted their employers). The Americans fell in the middle at 31%.

There was also considerable confusion expressed about what employers were able to access on the mobile devices. Almost 41% of the respondents reported their belief that their employers could access nothing on their mobile devices; 15% were unsure. 28% believed their employers could access their work email, and 22% thought work contacts were accessible.

What do employees want?  Transparency. They want their employers to explain the reasons for any access and how personal and work information is separated. Approximately 20% of respondents also want their employers to request permission in writing prior to accessing information on “personal” mobile devices.

What is your organizations doing with BYOD? At a minimum, start with a clearly written policy. Then your employees can make educated decisions about whether to stick with that company issue Blackberry instead of mixing business and pleasure on the family iPhone.

Here is a link to the Telegraph article:

​http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10183765/Workers-dont-trust-employers-with-their-mobile-data-and-privacy.html