In recent research conducted on 2,000 home working employees by full-service IT support company ILUX, it was found that one in ten believed that their expected working practices are not GDPR compliant. In addition, 13 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they are using their own home technology for work – and this could be the reason for the concern over GDPR compliance.

GDPR - or General Data Protection Regulation - was introduced in May 2018 and applies to all UK-based businesses or organisations and their processing of personal data. It was introduced to strengthen data protection for individuals across the EU.

All UK organisations that process personal data must comply with the regulations or risk significant penalties, which can amount to up to 4 per cent of the company’s annual turnover.

Based on the results of the poll, the report generated hints that the adoption of BYOD, (bring your own device) policy could be at the root of the problem, stating that home workers using personal technology for work could be the catalyst for the respondents’ concerns.

BYOD policy is a set of rules governing a corporate IT department’s level of support for employee-owned PCs, smart phones and tablets.

Additionally, support was also found to be an issue, with two-thirds of the poll respondents stating that they did not receive enough support regarding IT from business owners, with 10 per cent feeling that management was either too busy or too stressed to approach them.

James Tilbury - Managing Director at ILUX - stated:

“Asking employees to work from home and then not providing the right computer systems and security measures is a recipe for disaster. The last thing any business needs at this time is to lose valuable data, leave themselves open to cyber attacks or phishing and leave themselves vulnerable to the unknown. It may only seem like a small number, but it’s best not to be in that ten per cent.”

He added:

“Nine in ten is a positive figure, better than would be expected, but as a business owner I would be starting to ask myself - did I plan enough for home working? - and get some advice from an industry professional on how I might rectify any GDPR issues in my business now - better to be proactive than reactive in these situations.”