Additionally, the study, which questioned 329 workers across the UK, revealed that over 50 per cent of respondents confirmed there was no defined escalation policy set out by their organisation for cases of data loss. The statistics highlight a dangerous gap in communication on continuity practices between IT departments and staff. As a result, employees are often taking actions that could potentially render data irretrievable.

Ontrack is urging companies to create a clear procedure for staff to follow, should they lose data. Alerting the IT team so that the risk can be assessed is the first step in any solid data loss contingency plan.

Phil Bridge, UK managing director at Ontrack says, ‘It’s natural that employees want to try and solve their computer issues themselves, particularly as we’re all expected to have a certain amount of IT knowledge, regardless of our position.

‘However, staff are doing more harm than good by trying to fix things themselves. Enquiries that come in from employees who’ve meddled with their PCs often result in more complex recoveries and can sometimes lead to data being lost forever. A solid business continuity procedure is critical.’