JumpCloud on delta variant affecting plans to get back to the office

JumpCloud announced the findings from its recent survey, “2021 Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs.” With global changes in the workplace due to COVID-19 and the Delta variant, small and medium-sized enterprises are continuing to adjust their workplace models.

The survey results detail the impact of the Delta variant of COVID-19 on SMEs, how SMEs are making adjustments to the workplace, and what the future of the SME workplace might look like. JumpCloud’s 2021 Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs survey represents more than 500 decision-makers from small and mid-sized organisations in both the U.S. and the U.K.

Multi-factor authentication for advanced security

“SMEs continue to exhibit great resourcefulness, flexibility, and initiative in responding to the pandemic and the Delta variant,” said Rajat Bhargava, CEO of JumpCloud.

JumpCloud announced one-touch push multi-factor authentication for small IT teams to adopt advanced security policies

“As an SME ourselves, we know the current conditions are extremely fluid, and like the majority of respondents, we had to rethink and delay our office return and hybrid workplace options.”

“While SMEs grapple with how and where employees will work, we are rapidly expanding functionality delivered through the JumpCloud platform with new security like our recently announced one-touch push multi-factor authentication that makes it easier and more cost-effective for small IT teams to adopt advanced security policies.”

Key findings below include total responses and U.K. responses.

Difference by geography, size of company, industry

Businesses in the U.S. South are least likely to mandate vaccines: Whereas 67.9% of U.S. companies in the survey are taking steps regarding mandating vaccinations for employees, in Southern states (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, WV) the number drops to 56.1%.
K. is split: 72.8% of companies in Greater London are taking steps to mandate vaccinations, whereas only 44.9% in the rest of the U.K. are.
Geographic vaccination outliers: U.S. Northeastern states (CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT) are most likely to be taking steps for vaccination (82%), and areas of the U.K. outside of London are the least likely (44.9%).

COVID-19 Delta variant impact – U.S. and U.K.

Rethinking return to the office: 52.8% of respondents are currently rethinking the plan to return to the office. An additional 15.9% have already delayed their “work in the office” start date.
Delta is delaying the return to offices and SMEs are staying flexible: Of those who have delayed a return to the office, 30% of respondents are delaying a return to the office until September; 16.3% are delaying until October; 18.8% are delaying until November or later; and 35% don’t yet have a firm timeline.
Policies changing for returning to the office given the resurgence of COVID-19 cases: For those who have made changes to their return-to-work plans, this includes requiring social distancing in the workplace (59.2%); limiting the number of people in the workspace at one time (57.4%); requiring masks or PPE (54.3%); upgrading air filters or HVAC equipment (43.8%), and altering the workplace with physical dividers (41.9%).
Permanent changes: 70% of SMEs will be offering a work-from-home option indefinitely.
Employees mostly comfortable with company decisions: When asked if they agree with their company’s decision whether or not to go back into the office, 80.5% answered yes (44% agreed that there is no reason to delay in-office work because of COVID-19, and 36.5% agreed because they were working from home). For the 19.5% that did not agree, 9.8% reported they disagreed because there is “nothing to worry about,” and 9.8% reported they disagreed because they felt things are being rushed.

Vaccines in the SME workplace

Mandating vaccines: 62.7% of SMEs have taken steps to mandate vaccination for employees.
Incentives for vaccines: More than half of those mandating vaccinations (55.6%) will offer special incentives to encourage vaccination. Of those, 73.7% of respondents offer paid time off work to get a vaccine, 53.7% offer a holiday with proof of vaccination, and 59.4% offer cash or cash equivalent compensation.
Differences in general COVID-19 responses at SMEs: 14.1% report they never left the office, 18.7% still work remotely, 36.9% are back in the office, and 30.3% are working in a hybrid environment.

COVID-19 Delta variant impact – U.K. Only

Rethinking return to the office: 53.2% of respondents are currently rethinking the plan to return to the office. An additional 14.8% have already delayed the “work in the office” start date.
Delta is delaying return to the office: Of those who have delayed a return to the office, 32.4% of respondents are delaying a return to the office until September; 10.8% delaying until October; 18.9% delaying until November or later; and 37.8% don’t yet have a firm timeline.
Policies changing for returning to the office given the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the U.K.: For those who have made changes to their return-to-work plans, this includes requiring social distancing in the workspace (61.7%); limiting the number of people in the workspace at one time (60.2%); requiring masks or PPE (47.4%); upgrading air filters or HVAC equipment (48.9%); and altering the workspace with physical dividers (45.1%).
Permanent changes: 71% of U.K. SMEs will be offering a work from home option indefinitely.
Employees mostly comfortable with U.K. company decisions: When asked if they agree with their company’s decision whether or not to go back into the office, 77% answered yes (41.2% agreed that there is no reason to delay in-office work because of COVID-19, and 35.6% agreed because they were working from home). Of the 23% that did not agree, 10% reported they disagreed because there is “nothing to worry about,” and 13% reported they disagreed because they felt things are being rushed.

Vaccines in the SME workplace

Mandating vaccines: 57.6% of U.K. SMEs have taken steps regarding mandating vaccination for employees.
K. incentives for vaccines: More than half of those mandating vaccinations (56.9%) will offer special incentives to encourage vaccination in the U.K. Of those, 75.6% of respondents offer paid time off work to get a vaccine, 57.3% offer a holiday with proof of vaccination, and 52.4% offer cash or cash equivalent compensation.
Differences in general COVID-19 response at U.K. SMEs: 9.2% report they never left the office, 19.6% still work remotely, 39.6% are back in the office, and 31.6% are working in a hybrid environment.

Survey methodology

JumpCloud surveyed 502 SME decision-makers in the U.S. and U.K., including managers, directors, vice presidents, C-level executives, and owners. Each survey respondent represented an organisation with 2,500 or fewer employees across 32 different industries. The survey was conducted via Propeller Insights, August 9 - August 18.