A report, commissioned by Zoom and actioned by Morning Consult, which surveyed nearly 8,000 leaders and employees from 16 countries has looked at how people prefer to work together and what gets in the way of collaboration.
The survey revealed that different generations prefer to collaborate in different ways. Baby Boomers strongly preferred in-person meetings, while Gen Z's favourite method of collaboration was project management software.
Finding included that the time spent resolving issues related to inefficient collaboration can cost organisations an estimated $16,491 a year per manager in wasted time, or up to $874,000 annually for an corporate organisation of 1,000 people.
Leaders were more likely to spend a significant amount of time collaborating with colleagues, especially in meetings and email. Fully remote leaders reported the highest numbers here: more than half of this group spends three or more hours a day on email (56%) and virtual meetings (52%).
Leaders also spend more time than employees resolving the following common issues related to bad collaboration and take more time to refocus between tasks. All this adds up and can end up costing organisations in the long run.
The amount of apps was creating greater collaboration challenges. Those who reported using more than 10 apps for work were more likely to struggle with issues like misunderstandings in communication, lack of engagement from colleagues, and lack of alignment than those who reported using fewer than five apps.
