Singapore Workers Wasting Time in Inefficient Meetings Despite Preparation and Good Practices

Singapore Workers
Wasting Time in Inefficient Meetings Despite Preparation and Good Practices

Singapore – 23 May
2017 – ShoreTelÒ (NASDAQ:
SHOR), a leading provider of communication solutions that make interactions
simple, today revealed research which shows that despite preparation
time and good meeting practices, Singapore workers are wasting significant time
setting up virtual meetings as a result of technologies that are unintuitive, overly complex
or outdated.

ShoreTel’s Build a Better Meeting survey, which canvassed
the meeting habits and productivity preferences of nearly 500 respondents
across Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, revealed 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.

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 organisations,” 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 organisations 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 organisations to ensure that all workers are able to hold
efficient meetings regardless of location.

“Singapore organisations 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 organisations 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 – organisations 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.”

About ShoreTel, Inc.

ShoreTel (NASDAQ: SHOR) provides
businesses worldwide with communications solutions that make interactions
simple. ShoreTel offers business
phone systems, unified
communications and contact
center solutions that deliver unmatched flexibility and
ease for companies looking to increase productivity and drive innovation.
ShoreTel offers solutions in the cloud, onsite or a hybrid of both, giving
customers the freedom to choose the best fit for their business needs now and
in the future. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., ShoreTel has offices and
partners worldwide. For more information, visit shoretel.com.