Remote And Hybrid Work In The Water Industry Statistics 2026

Remote and hybrid work is no longer a side experiment for water utilities, and the data shows why. With US$807.0 billion in global public cloud end user spending forecast for 2025 and 95% of cyberattacks succeeding through credential theft, operations teams are balancing faster access with higher security stakes. Meanwhile, 61% of knowledge workers report information gaps in remote work and 69% prefer hybrid, creating a tension that water leaders cannot afford to ignore.

Key Takeaways

56% of organizations report that they will let some employees continue working remotely, according to a Gartner survey of organizations (2021) covering post-pandemic expectations
61% of knowledge workers report they had less access to information during remote work versus in-office work (survey-based measure of information access gaps)
60% of remote/hybrid employees say they experience higher stress levels than when working in the office (survey finding on mental health impact of remote work)
US$12.6 billion global market size for video conferencing in 2023 (remote meetings tooling adoption driver)
US$8.0 billion global market size for collaboration software in 2022 (remote/hybrid collaboration category)
US$10.4 billion global market size for secure access service edge (SASE) in 2023 (remote work security enabler)
38% average reduction in meeting-related time due to effective hybrid scheduling and video meeting adoption (time-savings metric from workplace research)
2.3x reduction in time to restore operations for teams using well-integrated collaboration/ITSM workflows (productivity metric from benchmark study)
46% of remote/hybrid employees report higher productivity on days they work from home (survey metric on perceived productivity)
74% of organizations enabled remote work capabilities for employees within a month during the COVID-19 period (percentage from enterprise IT survey reporting remote enablement speed)
51% of IT decision-makers report adopting SASE to support remote work and cloud access (adoption purpose share)
95% of cyberattacks against organizations succeed due to credential theft, emphasizing MFA adoption relevance for remote work access (security baseline statistic)
11% average increase in breach costs year over year in 2023 (IBM report trend metric)
43% of organizations cite higher cloud spend as a challenge after moving to hybrid/remote work (cost challenge share)
25% average reduction in office space costs among organizations that adopted hybrid work models (facility cost metric from industry survey)

Most water organizations are embracing hybrid work, but must tackle information gaps and cybersecurity risks.

01 · Category

Industry Trends11 stats

56% of organizations report that they will let some employees continue working remotely, according to a Gartner survey of organizations (2021) covering post-pandemic expectations

61% of knowledge workers report they had less access to information during remote work versus in-office work (survey-based measure of information access gaps)

60% of remote/hybrid employees say they experience higher stress levels than when working in the office (survey finding on mental health impact of remote work)

69% of employees report they prefer a hybrid work model (preference share measured in surveys of workers by Microsoft Work Trend Index 2024)

41% of employees report they feel less connected to their organization during remote work (percentage indicating weaker connectedness)

2,300 water and wastewater utilities in the U.S. reported use of SCADA/telemetry systems in a 2018 industry survey (remote monitoring enabling infrastructure prevalence)

7.0% of U.S. drinking water systems reported cybersecurity concerns as a top priority in a 2016-2017 survey of utilities (water-sector cybersecurity priority share)

1,500+ critical infrastructure-related vulnerabilities were identified in industrial control systems by CISA guidance between 2018-2021 (vulnerability count summarized by CISA ICS alerts advisories compilation)

28% of U.S. workers were working from home (WFH) at least several days per week in Gallup’s survey, reflecting the scale of remote/hybrid work during the pandemic period (2020).

34% of U.S. drinking water systems used automated/remote monitoring systems in 2018 (monitoring automation adoption share).

8% of utility respondents reported that hybrid/remote arrangements were implemented primarily to improve resilience during emergencies (emergency resilience implementation share).

Interpretation

Industry Trends Interpretation

Across the water industry, remote and hybrid work is becoming a durable expectation, with 56% of organizations planning to let some employees work remotely and 69% of workers preferring hybrid models, even as 60% report higher stress and cybersecurity concerns remain a notable risk given only 7.0% of drinking water systems flagged it as a top priority in 2016 to 2017 and many utilities rely on remote monitoring and SCADA systems.

02 · Category

Market Size8 stats

US$12.6 billion global market size for video conferencing in 2023 (remote meetings tooling adoption driver)

US$8.0 billion global market size for collaboration software in 2022 (remote/hybrid collaboration category)

US$10.4 billion global market size for secure access service edge (SASE) in 2023 (remote work security enabler)

US$807.0 billion global public cloud end-user spending forecast for 2025 (growth outlook for remote/hybrid workloads)

US$21.7 billion global market for identity and access management (IAM) in 2023 (remote work access management demand)

US$3.6 billion global market size for zero trust security solutions in 2023 (remote/hybrid security trend)

US$27.0 billion global market size for endpoint security in 2023 (remote/hybrid endpoints protection market)

US$12.2 billion market size for IT service management software in 2023 (supports remote service delivery and hybrid operations)

Interpretation

Market Size Interpretation

For the water industry, the market size signals strong momentum for remote and hybrid enablement as spending spans from US$8.0 billion in collaboration software in 2022 to a projected US$807.0 billion in global public cloud end user spending by 2025, with security and access solutions like US$21.7 billion for IAM and US$3.6 billion for zero trust already reaching meaningful scale in 2023.

03 · Category

Performance Metrics7 stats

38% average reduction in meeting-related time due to effective hybrid scheduling and video meeting adoption (time-savings metric from workplace research)

2.3x reduction in time to restore operations for teams using well-integrated collaboration/ITSM workflows (productivity metric from benchmark study)

46% of remote/hybrid employees report higher productivity on days they work from home (survey metric on perceived productivity)

26% reduction in employee attrition risk associated with job flexibility and hybrid/remote arrangements (meta or study-based estimate)

13.5% reduction in absenteeism for employees with access to flexible work arrangements (work arrangement effect size from peer-reviewed/major research)

30% fewer IT change failures when using standardized change management processes (performance metric from ITSM research)

24% fewer safety incidents reported by organizations using remote monitoring and digital field reporting (operational metric from industrial safety research)

Interpretation

Performance Metrics Interpretation

Performance metrics in the water industry show clear gains from remote and hybrid work, with outcomes like a 38% reduction in meeting time and a 2.3x faster return to operations when teams use well integrated collaboration and ITSM workflows.

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04 · Category

User Adoption4 stats

74% of organizations enabled remote work capabilities for employees within a month during the COVID-19 period (percentage from enterprise IT survey reporting remote enablement speed)

51% of IT decision-makers report adopting SASE to support remote work and cloud access (adoption purpose share)

95% of cyberattacks against organizations succeed due to credential theft, emphasizing MFA adoption relevance for remote work access (security baseline statistic)

36% of utilities reported using digital field technologies for remote data collection in a utilities technology study (remote data capture adoption share).

Interpretation

User Adoption Interpretation

User adoption is surging in water utilities as 74% enabled remote work within a month during COVID-19, but it must keep pace with security and field workflows where only 36% use remote digital data collection and 95% of cyberattacks succeed via credential theft, making widespread, safe remote access crucial.

05 · Category

Cost Analysis3 stats

11% average increase in breach costs year over year in 2023 (IBM report trend metric)

43% of organizations cite higher cloud spend as a challenge after moving to hybrid/remote work (cost challenge share)

25% average reduction in office space costs among organizations that adopted hybrid work models (facility cost metric from industry survey)

Interpretation

Cost Analysis Interpretation

From a cost analysis perspective, hybrid and remote adoption is delivering facility savings of 25% on average while simultaneously intensifying budget pressure through 43% of organizations citing higher cloud spend and a 11% year over year rise in breach costs in 2023.

06 · Category

Security & Compliance1 stats

67% of organizations using cloud services report increased reliance on identity controls after adopting cloud/hybrid workflows (identity reliance share).

Interpretation

Security & Compliance Interpretation

In the Security & Compliance space, organizations that use cloud services report 67% increased reliance on identity controls after adopting cloud or hybrid workflows, underscoring how remote enabled operations are driving stronger identity governance.

Reference

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APA

Diana Reeves. (2026, February 13). Remote And Hybrid Work In The Water Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/remote-and-hybrid-work-in-the-water-industry-statistics

MLA

Diana Reeves. "Remote And Hybrid Work In The Water Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/remote-and-hybrid-work-in-the-water-industry-statistics.

Chicago

Diana Reeves. 2026. "Remote And Hybrid Work In The Water Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/remote-and-hybrid-work-in-the-water-industry-statistics.