10 surprising ways texting can affect productivity in the workplace
Technology serves various businesses in so many ways nowadays. However, it can also present problems that affect everything from communication to productivity. Have a look at the effects of texting on productivity in the workplace.
Source: UGC
Using text messages has become a dominant form of communication over the past several years. Statistically, it is proven that people are overly attached to their cell phones than any other communication gadget.
What are the effects of texting on productivity in the workplace? Have a look at this article and find out more about cell phones and how they affect productivity in the workplace
Effects of texting on productivity in the workplace
Can you imagine the world today without smartphones? A time when people queued at payphones or a time when people's way of communication was through the ancient methods such as smoke and blowing horns. Of course, it is not even close to the imagination.
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Although texting is regarded as distracting, not everybody conquers that. Here are some of the effects of text messaging on productivity in any workplace.
What are the negative effects of texting?
How can texting be distracting? Texting is commonly viewed as a distraction, especially at the workplace. Most people are inseparable from their devices and find it hard to part from them, even for just some minutes.
Employees and employers can exceed the average amount of time throughout any specific workday, consequently decreasing productivity and concentration levels. Here are some of the negative effects of texting in the workplace.
1. Misunderstandings
Unlike communicating with someone face to face, using text messages can cause a lot of misunderstandings. For starters, that sheer brevity in text messages coupled with lack of verbal tones, facial expressions, eye contact, and body language can make it very easy for misunderstandings to occur among workmates.
Additionally, there could be instances where the recipients would respond straightforwardly or with one-word responses, which can somewhat be regarded as curt or rude without initial intention.
2. Expectation to read and respond
When one sends a text message, there is always that expectation of a response immediately. People often have this tendency to treat each text message as if it is likely to be urgent, even though many are trivial and not time-sensitive.
Receiving messages can also put one under pressure because senders often expect an immediate response. Failure to reply within five or so minutes can be all it takes to cause frustrations and anger.
Source: UGC
If an employer sends a message to one of the employees and fails to respond, it could be mistaken for ignorance and rudeness, even though it was not the initial intention.
3. Use of multiple tools
Messaging is a proprietary tool that can become siloed inside various groups and devices. For instance, the production team in a particular firm could be using a different tool than the sales team and the senior managers. This would be chaotic when moments later realise that the intended message has not yet been passed to the target recipients.
4. Misinterpretation
Employees with less experience in technology and texting often avoid text messages. Today, many abbreviations are used in texting that is somewhat confusing and hard to interpret. In this case, there could be certain old-aged employees and have no idea how to solve specific messages. This will cause misinterpretations and time wastage as the recipients try to decipher the code.
5. Erodes language skills
Employers often want to communicate with their employees at any given time. Therefore, to save time and resources, they would want to use short forms of specific words bearing poor spelling, incomplete sentences, and grammatical errors leading to language erosion.
What are the positive effects of texting?
Text messaging offers a direct way to contact colleagues when an immediate response is needed. This method of communication is more effective, primarily if the employees work at different locations or stations and do not have the means or time for an actual phone call.
It can be faster and easier than a complete email or a phone call from one employee to another. Moreover, it also offers a quieter working environment than talking on the phone. Have a look at some of these positive effects that texting has on the productivity of any workplace.
Source: UGC
1. Reaching stakeholders faster
You often have to wait until your recipient logs into and checks their email when you send an email. Additionally, depending on how many unread emails they have, yours might even vanish, leading to no response.
However, sending a text message guarantees that the recipient will receive and read the message. This is due to people's frequency in having their cell phones always at hand or near them.
2. Simplification of the difficulties in recruiting new employees
At times, employers would want to hold interviews before employing new hires in their organisations. Before or after these interviews, employers can maintain an open line of communication with prospects so that the interviewees don't lose interest or assume that the organisation would not hire them.
Additionally, text messages are effective when an organisation wants to invite new hires for interviews and also if they're going to fill them in regarding how the interview was. This way, the organisation would have saved time and resources.
3. Scheduling of employee meetings becomes easier
It is often difficult to assemble employees of a particular organisation for a meeting, whether an open enrollment meeting for benefits or any other forum. In this case, proper scheduling is tricky because an employer would need the employees' input to know when most of them are available for the meeting.
The only effective and productive way to communicate is by sending text messages, which will allow the employer to communicate on the scheduled meetings and deliver timely messages about meeting location and time.
Source: UGC
4. It takes the guesswork and pain out of payroll
Payroll is depicted as one of the most time-consuming parts of human resources' responsibility in the workplace. Since many employees look at communication about payment as a top priority, many payroll components can be made simpler through text messages. For instance, if you are the HR of the organisation, you could,
- Send employees notifications when payroll checks are sent for deposit
- Allow employees to text their expenses to HR for payroll purposes
- Send employees reminders about payroll changes through the holidays
- Allow employees to submit timesheets via text messaging
5. Time-saving
For instance, an employer wants to deliver a message to hundreds of employees before a particular set time. This way, he will compose one text message and forward it to his employees, and within three minutes, every one of them would have received the message.
When you look keenly at how a company operates, you will realise that communication is one of the most significant factors in ensuring the smooth running of the organisation. However, while communication between authorities can be easy and good, communication between the organisation and its employees can fall by the wayside. It is hard to keep so many people engaged.
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