Is it Up to IT to Provide Remote Workers with Desktop Displays?

I miss my desktop monitor. So do a lot of employees that have been working from home for months since the COVID-19 pandemic forced massive closings throughout the country. While we’ve brought our laptops home, missing that second screen, or even a single, more robust screen, has been a sore spot for many employees.

Personally, I wasn’t able to bring my desktop monitor home with me, and I’ve been making due with a 32-inch display leftover from my college years. To say the differences are notable would be an understatement. Television displays simply don’t match the resolution or measurements that a desktop display provide.

I’m a visual worker. I like to have everything I need laid out in front of me as I work. In the office I had a massive 32-inch desktop display, along with my laptop screen. As a result, I was able to keep three or four applications open at once, referencing all of them in order to write a story. Since working remotely, I haven’t had nearly the same canvas as I have at work.

I’ve made due, of course. But certainly the comfort of a desktop display is something I’ve sorely missed. I look forward to reconnecting with my display when I return to the office – but many employees won’t return.

We recently conducted a survey of our IT audience to ask about remote working habits. Across the board, organizations are considering expanding their remote workforce, even once a vaccine is made for COVID-19. The benefits have been felt – productivity has not dropped, utilities and rent have. Not to mention the collective breath of fresh air workers have experienced from eliminating commutes and the like.

We also asked our IT audience about whether their organizations provide equipment to remote employees. 79.1% said they do, and of that segment, 41.3% said that they provide desktop displays specifically. That’s a solid segment of the market that is providing these displays in addition to laptops.

I think many organizations are going to have to consider providing desktop displays to remote employees. It’s a relatively small perk that goes a long way. If the employee were in office, the organization would provide them with a desktop display. So why not go the extra mile and provide it to remote employees? I know I’d appreciate it.

To learn more about desktop displays and how they can ease the burden of IT pros, check out this recent article.

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