Dashlane announced the findings of its new Workplace Security Survey which looked at employee sentiment and habits around workplace security practices—and who the responsibilities should fall on. As many companies continue to grapple with a remote workforce, overall employee security measures become more critical, especially as many are relying on personal devices and networks for work.

Conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Dashlane among over 1,200 employed U.S. Americans, the survey sheds light on how employees view and manage company security—and reveals they aren’t necessarily taking the security of their work accounts as seriously as they should. This survey was conducted online within the United States from October 14-16, 2020 among 2,070 U.S. adults ages 18 and older (1,226 employed).

The survey found the majority of employed Americans (70%) believe it is their company’s job to make sure their work accounts aren’t hacked or breached. Other findings for employers included: 

• Poor employee password practices:
  • 59% of employed Americans are more concerned about having a strong password for personal accounts than work accounts.
  • Over one in five (22%) reuse passwords from their personal accounts for their online work accounts.
  • One in five (20%) request a password reset every time they forget their work account password(s) instead of keeping track somewhere.
  • Only one quarter (25%) use a password manager to keep track of their work account passwords.
• Would you rather? 
  • Even with the world feeling constant Zoom fatigue, it seems it’s still better than having to remember another password. About half (52%) of employed Americans would rather be on video meetings for work than have to remember another work account password.
• Dark Web disaster:
  • Over two-thirds of employed Americans (72%) say they are sure some of their personal information is out there on the Dark Web (e.g., from data breaches, compromised accounts).

Any information leaked online makes it easier for companies to be hacked, which can have serious consequences for breached businesses. The average cost of a data breach in 2020 is $3.86 million, which jumps to $8.64 million when looking at the U.S. alone. This doesn’t take into account the devastating effect a security failure can have on brand perception, which can take years of hard, humbling work to recover from. "This new data proves the need for businesses to proactively and consistently address security questions, concerns, and best practices with their employees,” said Dashlane's Head of IT, Jay Leaf-Clark. “A password manager is essential to business security in our remote-distributed world."

Surprisingly, additional survey findings show that the youngest demographic of employed Americans (those aged 18-34)—often associated with being most technologically advanced—are more likely to have reset their passwords 5+ times in the past six months (24%) than those aged 35-44 (15%) and those aged 55-64 (8%); 18-34-year-old employed Americans (65%) are significantly less likely to believe their “online security hygiene'' (e.g., strong, unique passwords, using two-factor authentication, being wary of suspicious emails) for work accounts makes a difference in their company's security, than: 

• Those aged 35-44 (78%)
• Those aged 45-54 (80%)
• Those aged 55-64 (78%)        
• Those aged 65+ (70%)

Poor employee password practices are a common weak link among organizations, but there is a better way to deploy, monitor, and manage overall business security. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Dashlane at dashlane@dottedlinecomm.com.