Are we now slaves to our digital devices? Seems like it, according to my recent experience and to research into employee behaviour.
The other week I was in a day-long seminar/workshop with a dozen other people. Everyone there had expressed a personal interest in attending, the subject was relevant to us all, the venue was fine, the manual was good and the workshop leader knew his stuff.
So then, everyone gave the workshop full attention? Not so! Despite the fact that we were only in session between 9am and 4pm, with morning, lunch and afternoon breaks, at some time or other half of the delegates were on their devices, checking emails, texting, tweeting, surfing and so on. In fact as the day went on a couple of people seemed to spend more time using their devices than they did on taking in what was happening around them. This despite the fact that the day had been over-subscribed.
My experience appears to be borne out by a survey conducted among office workers in London by social email provider harmon.ie .
According to the survey, during face-to-face meetings, 41 per cent of UK workers remain glued to their communication devices, sending instant messages; responding to texts; listening to voicemails; or checking their emails. 31 per cent admitted to disrupting face-to-face meetings to answer their mobile phones and 19 per cent defy their superiors and stay connected when they’ve been told to explicitly disconnect.
It seems that age plays a major part in behaviours exhibited. One in three employees aged 20 to 39 said they would answer their phones when in meetings, compared to 20 per cent of people aged 40 to 60 and just 10 per cent of those over the age of 60.
Visit the Fuse Learning website: www.fuselearning.co.uk
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