The True Cost of Passwords: Lost Hours, IT Tickets, and Security Risks

Passwords have been the default for decades. They were simple to set up, easy to explain, and cheap to distribute. For a long time, that felt good enough. But “good enough” no longer cuts it. Modern organizations are distributed, mobile, and digital first. In that landscape, the hidden costs of passwords are revealed: wasted IT hours, lost employee productivity, and constant security risks. 

Passwords Were Once Considered “Good Enough” 

Passwords solved a real problem in their time. They didn’t require new hardware, licenses, or complex rollout projects. Employees remembered a word or two, typed it in, and got access. Simple. But workplaces have shifted. Contractors, partners, and employees need instant access from day one. Devices move fluidly between home and office. Security threats evolve daily. In this reality, the simplicity of passwords has become a liability. 

The IT Burden of Constant Resets 

Every forgotten login triggers a chain reaction. IT teams stop what they are doing, open a ticket, and reset a credential. Multiplied across hundreds or thousands of employees, this repetitive work consumes staggering amounts of time. 

Helpdesk hours and ticket volume 

Password resets represent one of the largest single categories of helpdesk calls. Each reset might only take five to ten minutes, but scale it across the year and the hours vanish into thin air. The true cost is not only wages but also lost opportunity. Skilled IT staff should be strengthening security, modernizing systems, and rolling out new tools. Instead, they are locked into the treadmill of resetting accounts. 

Productivity Lost for Employees 

The cost doesn’t stop with IT. For employees, a forgotten password translates into lost productivity. One blocked login halts work, disrupts meetings, and delays collaboration. 

Time wasted waiting for resets 

What looks like a small hiccup—five minutes here, fifteen minutes there—compounds quickly. Across a large workforce, the idle time adds up to days, even weeks, of wasted hours each year. For contractors and new hires, the damage is worse. If someone starts a new role and can’t log in on day one, the signal is clear: technology is a barrier, not an enabler. 

Read about Access Fatigue, what it is, and how to avoid it.

The Security Risks of Weak Credentials 

Time loss is one thing. Security risk is another. Passwords are the weakest link in the chain, and attackers know it. Phishing campaigns exploit human error. Credential stuffing leverages reused logins. Malware steals credentials silently in the background. Once a password is compromised, attackers move laterally—into email, cloud storage, and business apps—causing damage that far outweighs the “cheapness” of relying on passwords in the first place. 

How Password Costs Add Up Over a Year 

Add IT overhead, employee downtime, and heightened security exposure together and the math is sobering. What looked like a cost-free way to authenticate users turns into a major line item in lost productivity and hidden risk. Passwords don’t just drain budgets—they block innovation and tie organizations to outdated processes. 

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 31% of IT-tickets: Log-in problems for new employees (Gartner 2024) 

• 3 hours lost on first day of work – waiting for access 

• 47 % of companies struggle with access set-up (StrongDM, 2022) 

• 56 % of employees do not get access within the first week  (Talmundo/Vlerick, 2023) 

What Comes After Passwords? 

The good news: organizations are not stuck with the old model. Password-free authentication is already live in enterprises that value both security and usability. 

Introduction to password-free authentication 

The concept is simple. Instead of relying on shared secrets like passwords, identity is verified through strong, phishing-resistant methods. In the Nordics, this often means using familiar national eIDs such as BankID, Vipps, MitID, or ID-porten. Combined with Microsoft Entra ID, employees log in securely, seamlessly, and it’s all auditable. 

This is not a hype. It is the practical balance between security and usability. For a deeper dive into how to strike that balance, read more about password-free identity verification here. And if you’re ready to learn how CheckID compares to other identity verification solutions, go to the page Identity Verification Best Practices and learn how you can replace passwords altogether. 

 

Using Passwords Is Costly On Many Levels

Passwords were once the quick fix. Today, they are the weakest link. The real cost is measured not only in IT hours or helpdesk tickets but also in lost productivity, stalled onboarding, and heightened risk. Password-free authentication offers a path out of the treadmill—stronger security, smoother onboarding, and less wasted time for everyone. 

Want to learn more? Read more about why passwords no longer work, and experience how onboarding, recovery, and device setup can be secure and password-free from day one.