As the demand for workplace collaboration tools continues to grow, we’re beginning to see the reality of information overload at work. A new survey has found that 7 out of 10 employees say that email is what makes them feel most overwhelmed at work. That’s not much of a surprise when you consider the fact that the average office worker receives about 90 emails per day.
Symphony, a Google and Goldman Sachs-backed workplace platform, recently conducted a survey addressing the changing nature of workplace collaboration and teamwork tools. The Symphony Workplace Confidential Survey looks at the growth of new collaborative platforms in the workplace. According to Symphony, their findings highlight a somewhat casual approach to communications that could pose a threat to business operations.
Email or Chat: Which is the Way Forward?
As the rise of new generations and working trends delivers different behaviors and attitudes into the work environment, there are many things that a company needs to consider before deploying communication solutions. The Chief Experience Officer for Symphony, Jonathan Christensen, noted that the way that people are working is changing. Collaborative platforms are allowing for better work-life balance and flexibility. However, the casual approach to workplace communications can also present security risks too.
According to Symphony, 27% of workers don’t know the IT compliance guidelines that their business has in place. What’s more, 93% is confident that the information they share over their collaborative tools is safe. Because of this, 27% of employees have connected to an unsecured network, and 29% have shared work materials through personal email or messaging apps.
Symphony’s findings also say that 25% of employees are sharing confidential workplace information over messenger, and 78% wouldn’t mind if this information were exposed publicly.
Finding the Right Solution for Communication
It seems that to ensure a secure work environment, businesses can’t just replace email with chat. All organisations need a strategy to make sure that compliance standards are being met. Though employees are far less overwhelmed when using chat than email, that doesn’t eliminate the need for security. According to Symphony’s data, 80% of respondents believe that using a collaboration tool improves productivity between them and their colleagues. Another 52% of employees said that messaging apps made them more productive.
While messaging apps and collaborative tools may well be the way forward for productivity and business efficiency, it’s crucial to have the right security in place. Millennials are particularly bad at separating their work and personal lives. They’re 3 times more likely to share company password or credit card information. What’s more, Millennials are twice as likely to download apps not approved by IT.
Visit the Symphony website to see the results of their workplace confidential survey in full.
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