9 in 10 UK office workers experience seriously elevated stress levels when dealing with troublesome technology during meetings, Barco research shows[1]. People’s heart rates reached 179bpm when struggling with technology during a meeting[2], compared to resting heart rates of around 60-100 bpm – a clear indicator of stress.
Research went on to show that over half of UK business people who are regularly forced to take time away from their work to grapple with meeting room technology do so on a regular basis. This has serious negative implications for themselves, and for the business.
Meeting room technology which does not work seamlessly is a huge hindrance for productivity. Amongst the biggest challenges for UK employees were sharing content and screens, and finding the right cables to connect to in-room devices. In trying to deal with tech problems, staff are wasting significant amounts of their valuable time: 60 percent try to fix problems themselves, 49 percent call IT/tech support, 30 percent end up giving up with the tech and going to their plan B. 15 percent even postpone meetings until technology problems can be fixed. The vast majority (90 percent) actually pre-prepare for technology failures: preparing handouts as alternatives to tech, coordinating with IT in advance, and 44 percent even do a tech rehearsal.
As a result of struggling with technology in meeting rooms, a quarter of UK office workers have missed important deadlines, and some have even missed out on personal opportunities like promotions (7 percent). Worryingly, 15 percent reported that their meeting room technology struggles actually lost the company business. This implies that poorly performing meeting technology has a potential knock on effect of damaging both personal and corporate reputations. In this environment, 81 percent of respondents believe that meeting technology should be taken more seriously.
Dr David Lewis, Neuropsychologist and Director of Mind Labs International said, “People show a clear stress response when faced with difficulties in getting meeting room technology to work. Stress in the workplace does not have a positive impact. People miss deadlines, and some even report that they have missed out on promotions as a result. This should not be happening! Removing these stresses from workers should be a top priority for businesses.”
Lieven Bertier, Head of Product Management ClickShare said, “Investing in meeting room technology which works at the click of a button will significantly help in reducing complexity and stress from office workers lives. When office staff can share screens more easily and collaborate more easily, businesses benefit by becoming more efficient. Having a more productive and efficient business has a positive outcome for businesses growth, and the bottom line.”
[1] In an independent study conducted by Vanson Bourne for Barco
[2] In an independent study by MindLab conducted for Barco
