Information seeking and consumption

2020 study

Home working has increased information sharing and re-use and the rate of work-related content sharing has tripled since 2016.

Yet, surprisingly 47% of professionals recently surveyed are unaware of their organisations copyright policy, or unsure of its details.

We are publishing the key findings of this report from analyst firm Outsell and commissioned by our partner Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), to share cumulative insights about how copyright content is reused and shared in the workplace, to help you to assess your risk.

The study surveyed knowledge workers at companies headquartered in major countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Switzerland and focused on sectors including Consulting and Professional Services, Utilities, Finance, Law Firms, and Life Sciences and others.

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How much do employees share information, how is it sourced and what does it mean for your organisation?
  • 16 instances of sharing per week V 5 instances in 2016.
  • 9 is minimum number of people content is shared with.
  • 49% of shared content is externally sourced compared to 36% in 2016.
  • 69% potential copyright infringements per employee per week compared to 18 in 2016.
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What is the impact of remote working on content sharing?
  • 69% of respondents reported they were working from home during the pandemic
  • 34% that reported working remotely said there was an increase in sharing of content during the pandemic
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Executive workers share more content than management
  • 24 instances of content sharing per week v management at 15
  • 12 is the minimum number of people content is shared with compared to management at 9
  • 144 potential copyright infringements per employee per week v managers at 74
  • 63% of execs reported sharing more often during the pandemic compared to 27% of managers
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The ways employees are sharing information at work are changing
  • 48% share as email attachment compared to 44% in 2016
  • 20% use a link in an email compared to 18% in 2016
  • 16% use collaboration tools most often compared to 6% in 2016

Make sure you are protected against the risk of copyright infringement

We can help you manage the risk and will give you blanket permission to use content from millions of publications giving you peace of mind.

You should speak to our team directly if you, or anyone in your organisation, does the following:

  1. Receive, access (including online) or share press cuttings
  2. Copy or print articles from websites or other digital content
  3. Email copies of articles or extracts from publications
  4. Store copies of articles or reports on an intranet
  5. Photocopy or scan content from books, magazines or journals

The extracts from the study are reproduced here by kind permission of Outsell and Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) View or download the full original publication here.

Speak to our team

Do you need a licence?

If you or anyone in your organisation copies or shares published work, it's likely you need a copyright licence.

Complying with copyright

Learn more about copyright, copyright infringement and Intellectual Property.

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