How HR teams can fix the £1.8bn problem of 'password fatigue'

Employee password resets could cost an average UK employer hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost productivity – and the security risks are even greater...
HR Grapevine
HR Grapevine | Executive Grapevine International Ltd
How HR teams can fix the £1.8bn problem of 'password fatigue'
Password fatigue is a £1.8bn problem for employers

The password you have entered is incorrect.

Ah, that familiar sinking feeling. Ok, try Fido2000. Nope. What about FIDO2000 all caps? Still no. Wait a moment, maybe I went for the old…surely… it’s got to be iloveantanddec999!

After three incorrect password attempts you have been locked out. Please contact your system administrator.

Sigh. Back to IT you go.

Forgetting passwords has become one of the universal shared experiences since the dawn of the internet age. It’s why the global password management market has surged to a roughly £1.8billion valuation as of 2023. But the fact the market is set to continue expanding to an estimated £7.5billion market by 2032 shows that this problem has not yet been solved.

The password productivity problem frustrating employees, HR, & IT alike

In the game of password resets, nobody’s a winner.

Employees are more fed up than ever, anecdotally evidenced by someone who once confessed to me that their seemingly endless stream of failed login attempts prompted them to make ‘IGIVEUP’ their default password, safe in the knowledge that their eventual frustration would leave them to the right answer

The constant need to remember and reset passwords across multiple systems can significantly impact employee productivity, as well as heightening cybersecurity risks

Alastair Brown | CTO at BrightHR

Past research has found that 51% of individuals reset a password at least once a month and one in five reset their password once a week. It’s unsurprising when one considers that the average internet user has a staggering 240 online accounts that require a password. Many of these are in the workplace as HR and other workplace platforms grow in number. HR industry analyst Josh Bersin has spoken on the proliferation of workplace tech with the average large company running over 80 HR technology systems. That number doubles for global employers.

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