Despite preparation time and good meeting practices, Singapore and Hong Kong workers are wasting significant time setting up virtual meetings as a result of technologies that are unintuitive, overly complex or outdated, according to ShoreTel’s Build a Better Meeting survey.
Almost 1 in 5 Singapore workers wastes between 6 and 10 minutes setting up each meeting. Over half of Singapore’s workforce claim this is because of a lack of clarity over conference technology or issues with bandwidth and the Internet.
“In supposedly tech-savvy Hong Kong, nearly a third (30%) of respondents reported spending 11 to 15 minutes struggling to set up their meeting technology, and 10% spent even longer,” said Frédéric Gillant, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific for ShoreTel. “Over the course of weeks and months, that adds up to a huge amount of time that could be spent more productively on things like discussing key business challenges and finding solutions.”
Bandwidth issues and Internet problems (39%), combined with unclear or missing details on local dial-ins or access points (26%) were the main barriers preventing Hong Kong firms from getting the most out of meeting technology. Additionally, 16% cited outdated technology as a challenge.
Compared to their counterparts in Hong Kong and Australia, Singaporeans spend the least time in meetings each month and Singapore workers have generally good practices around those meetings with 45% citing that they prepare an agenda in advance. The majority (83%), spend under nine hours per month in meetings, and of these, most spend less than four hours. This limited time means each meeting is a crucial time for information exchange and collaboration.
However, regardless of the best practices implemented by many, another 43% that say they only prepare an agenda on occasion. Additionally, a third of respondents admit to doing other work in meetings, and around 1 in 10 workers acknowledge not participating at all. As a result, 1 in 5 say their meetings are only slightly productive or not productive at all.
“Singapore’s workforce does not spend the majority of their time in meetings, so these opportunities for collaboration are highly valuable to their organizations,” said Frédéric Gillant, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific for ShoreTel. “Despite many workers setting agendas and claiming to fully participate in meetings, there are clearly some issues to address in making sure technology enables effective meetings rather than inhibits them.”
Increasingly mobile workstyles will require organizations to adjust
The research indicates that over half of Singapore workers do not work remotely on a regular basis. However, a third of the workforce does spend 1 to 7 days per month working remotely which results in a clear need for organizations to ensure that all workers are able to hold efficient meetings regardless of location.
“Singapore organizations need to reconsider how they are facilitating working practices,” Gillant adds. “If employees are outside of the office or find meeting practices inefficient, measures should be put in place to ensure that remote collaboration is a viable option. Too often, the technology is too hard to use or people are not familiar with it, which causes meeting delays and hurts overall productivity.”
While communication technologies are transforming the workplace and the ways in which we interact with each other, Gillant notes that not every solution is simple to implement or easy for people to use. What’s more, trying to use a host of standalone communication tools presents additional problems for IT teams and users.
“A good unified communications system takes all the best features of each technology – IP phones, conferencing, video, digital document sharing, chat and mobility – and combines them in a single solution that enables individuals to collaborate seamlessly wherever they are and using whichever channel is the most convenient and effective,” said Gillant. “This makes meetings easier to set up and virtual interactions more natural, which increases productivity and greatly streamlines workflows.”
Despite a focus on technology, there is also a need for cultural shifts within organizations to drive efficiencies. With the 43% of the workforce that does not consistently prepare agendas and the 41% that multitasks on calls - including checking personal messages or social media whilst in meetings - organizations can put measures in place to improve meeting practices.
“Meetings without an agenda are like road trips without GPS or a map – unless you are very lucky, you are going to spend ages going in circles and never get anywhere,” said Gillant.
According to Gillant, laying out an agenda and distributing it ahead of time is an easy way to boost meeting productivity. Even more effective is to use productivity tools, such as agenda planners, that are built into leading unified communications (UC) solutions. Agendas don’t need to be long, but they should outline the topics to be covered, the anticipated goals, required attendees, any materials needed, and a start and stop time.
“There are plenty of opportunities for companies to eliminate meeting inefficiency, such as avoiding long meetings where people are prone to losing interest and discouraging distractions that take people away from the task at hand,” added Gillant. “Easy, modern unified communications technology and thoughtful meeting preparation are the keys to building better, more productive meetings that all attendees will find valuable.”
Lack of agenda adds insult to injury
The overwhelming majority of local respondents – almost 75% – infrequently prepared an agenda ahead of the event. Hong Kongers were significantly less well organized than respondents in Singapore, where far more (42%) claimed that they always prepare an agenda before a meeting, and Australia, where the majority of people (54%) always prepare one.
“Meetings without an agenda are like road trips without GPS or a map – unless you are very lucky, you are going to spend ages going in circles and never get anywhere,” said Gillant.
According to Gillant, laying out an agenda and distributing it ahead of time is an easy way to boost meeting productivity. Even more effective is to use productivity tools, such as agenda planners, that are built into leading UC solutions. Agendas don’t need to be long, but they should outline the topics to be covered, the anticipated goals, required attendees, any materials needed, and a start and stop time.
Unproductive meetings mean easily distracted participants
When asked to rate how productive they think their meetings are on a scale of 1 to 4 (1 = not productive; 4 = very productive), Hong Kongers scored their sessions at 2.66 – the lowest among all the markets surveyed. Over a third (37%) of Hong Kong respondents felt their meetings were either only slightly productive or completely unproductive. Only 11% graded their meetings as very productive, compared with 26% in Australia and 29% in Singapore.
In addition, less than half (41%) of Hong Kongers admitted to fully participating in meetings, with nearly a third (30%) of them citing that they are routinely side-tracked by dealing with other work at the same time. Hong Kong workers also appear to be the most easily distracted by private matters, with 16% admitting to checking personal emails, social media or texting during in meetings.
“Many Hong Kong companies are losing a great deal of time to unproductive meetings, however there are plenty of opportunities to eliminate inefficiency,” said Gillant. “Easy, modern unified communications technology and thoughtful meeting preparation are the keys to building better, more productive meetings that all attendees will find valuable.”