Institute of Internal Communication

How annoyed do you get when a colleague or client answers their iPhone during a meeting?

Have you ever Tweeted while your boss is talking? Or sent a text during a  particularly dull conference?

The chances are you answered: ‘hugely’, ‘occasionally’ and ‘of course’.

According to new research, the overabundance of electronic devices for collaboration, social networking and communication tools designed to make it easy to complete work-related tasks is leading to rudeness at the office and at home.

The study of 1,140 UK workers* conducted in the UK by social email provider harmon.ie found that:

• During face-to-face meetings, 41% of UK workers remain glued to their communication devices, sending instant messages; responding to texts; listening to voicemails; or checking their emails. This figure rises to a staggering 70% during virtual meetings and webcasts.
• Thirty-one percent even admit to disrupting face-to-face meetings to answer their mobile phones –paradoxically, 4 out of 10 of these individuals agree it is rude to do so.
• Age plays a major part in workplace etiquette.  One in three workers aged 20-39 will take a mobile phone call while in a meeting, compared to 20% of people aged 40-60 and just 10% of people over the age of 60. 
• Nineteen percent of respondents willingly defy their superiors and stay connected when they’ve been told to explicitly disconnect.

“It would appear that we have a classic case of double standards in the workplace, with 82% complaining about other peoples’ tendencies to disrupt proceedings by answering a mobile phone, tweeting, sending an instant message, responding to emails or even just updating their social status – which incidentally nine percent of our sample confessed they did,” said David Lavenda, Vice President of Product Strategy at harmon.ie.

“Yet, rather ironically, 70% of those that rudely interrupt meetings themselves would be offended if someone did the same thing to them. Clearly, the perceived pressure to stay connected has led many people to neglect their manners.”

The study also found that communication and social tools are encroaching on people’s personal relationships, with survey respondents reporting:  

• 85% keep connected during weekends.
• 79% stay tuned in during evenings.
• 74% keep in touch with the office while on holiday.
• 48% even stay online while in bed.
• 35% report they never disconnect from the office.

“Thirty years ago, only doctors carried pagers — and reaching out to them after hours was only for matters of life or death. Yet, today  communication and social tools designed to save us time in the office by making us more productive, are encroaching upon our personal lives,” added Lavenda.