Remote And Hybrid Work In The Water Industry Statistics 2026

56 percent of organizations plan to allow remote work for some employees. 69 percent of workers prefer hybrid models. 95 percent of cyberattacks succeed through credential theft while 61 percent of knowledge workers report reduced information access during remote shifts.

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

Industry trends in water show that remote and hybrid work is gaining ground while creating new operational and people challenges, with 69% of employees preferring hybrid work and 60% reporting higher stress, alongside strong reliance on remote monitoring as 2,300 U.S. water and wastewater utilities used SCADA or telemetry systems in 2018.

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’s remote and hybrid work market sizing, spending is scaling across key enabling technologies with Gartner projecting US$807.0 billion in global public cloud end user spending by 2025 alongside US$12.6 billion in video conferencing and US$10.4 billion in SASE in 2023, signaling rapid growth in both collaboration and remote work security tools.

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

Across performance metrics in the water industry, hybrid and remote work practices appear to deliver sizable gains, including a 38% average reduction in meeting time and a 2.3x faster restoration of operations, alongside improvements in productivity and lower risk of attrition.

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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

In the user adoption side of remote and hybrid work in the water industry, rapid uptake was evident when 74% of organizations enabled remote work within a month during COVID-19, while ongoing adoption priorities now include secure remote access like SASE, with 51% of IT decision makers adopting it and 95% of cyberattacks succeeding through credential theft that makes MFA increasingly critical.

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 standpoint, water industry organizations are seeing rising breach costs with a 11% year over year increase in 2023 alongside a 43% share reporting higher cloud spend after remote or hybrid adoption, even as hybrid models can reduce office space costs by an average of 25%.

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

With 67% of water industry organizations using cloud services reporting increased reliance on identity controls after adopting cloud or hybrid workflows, security and compliance efforts are increasingly centered on strengthening identity management.

report visual · Key figures

Remote & hybrid work impact across water-industry roles

Most organizations and workers expect remote/hybrid participation, but information access and connection challenges remain common.

56%

56% of organizations report that they will let some employees continue working remotely, according to a Gartner survey o

28%

28% of U.S. workers were working from home (WFH) at least several days per week in Gallup’s survey, reflecting the scale

69%

69% of employees report they prefer a hybrid work model (preference share measured in surveys of workers by Microsoft Wo

61%

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

41%

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

60%

60% of remote/hybrid employees say they experience higher stress levels than when working in the office (survey finding

source-verifiedgartner.com · gallup.com · microsoft.com · linkedin.com · apa.org2024

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.