ZOOM WORKPLACE COLLABORATION REPORT
Forward together Ways of working have changed considerably in the past five years, which has also meant how colleagues collaborate with each other has changed too – and this can pose problems, as Zoom’s Global Collaboration in the Workplace report lays clear. But there are solutions too.
How many traditionally office-based people work has changed markedly in the past five years. Alongside the rise of hybrid working there has been the rapid development and adoption of project management software and collaboration apps. These changes in working practices have also altered how people collaborate with each other. Not as much is now done via in-person meetings or just talking with colleagues at desks. Often, collaboration is done virtually through apps such as Slack, Trello and WhatsApp. But while these new ways of working bring advantages, they also bring problems. More than a third of business leaders say they lose more than an hour daily resolving problems caused by poor teamwork, according to Zoom’s Global Collaboration in the Workplace report. Zoom’s data show that poor teamwork can result in a productivity loss that could cost more than £12,000 per manager per year – something that can be ill afforded, especially for small- and medium- sized businesses. With effective collaboration crucial to success in business, this is a problem that needs to be addressed, and there are no easy solutions. While some companies are pushing for a return to people working in the office from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, there is resistance, for instance with leaders and employees say in-person meetings are their least preferred method of collaboration, favouring instant messaging instead, as Zoom’s Global Collaboration in the Workplace report, conducted by research agency Morning Consult, found. ‘Bad collaboration’ In Zoom’s report, respondents referred to ‘bad collaboration’, which, in essence, is a collective term that leaders and employees used to define the challenges and barriers they encountered that made it difficult for them to collaborate. This included difficulty finding time on others’ schedules to connect,
not receiving responses from colleagues in a timely manner and not having enough time between meetings or chats to get things done. These ‘bad collaboration’ moments resulted in about one third of workforces experiencing misunderstandings in communication with teammates leaders, or a lack of alignment between or within teams or a lack of engagement or inattentiveness from colleagues. More than one-third of leaders reported spending an hour or more a day resolving four distinct issues related to bad collaboration, and those costs are absorbed by organisations unless they are addressed.
Christina Daly head of people experience
www.zoom.us
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More than one- third of leaders reported spending an hour or more a day resolving four distinct issues related to bad collaboration, and those costs are absorbed by organisations unless they are addressed.
Graphics supplied courtesy of Morning Consult, research commissioned by Zoom
Zoom’s research found that Generation X, Millennials and Gen Z leaders prefer non-face- to-face collaboration, such as instant messaging and project management software, while Boomers still lean towards in-person meetings. Christina Daly, head of people experience at Zoom, notes that Zoom is addressing these preferences. “This is by continuously innovating and enhancing our instant messaging and chat experience,” she says. “These tools enable quick responses and facilitate organised, efficient knowledge- sharing, both of which are essential in today’s fast-paced work environment.” She adds that artificial intelligence (AI) plays a
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