9 in 10 UK office workers stressed by meeting room technology ⁰

Meeting room technology which does not work seamlessly is a hindrance for productivity, with 86 percent experiencing serious “meeting stress” when grappling with it during meetings, according to research from Vanson Bourne and Barco. Among the biggest challenges for UK employees were sharing content and screens, and finding the right cables to connect to devices. In trying to deal with problems, staff are wasting significant amounts of their valuable time: 60 percent try to fix problems themselves, 49 percent call support, 30 percent end up giving up. 15 percent even postpone meetings until technology problems can be fixed. The vast majority (90 percent) actually pre-prepare for 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, which carried out a study looking at people’s reaction to technology going wrong in meetings 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.”

1,000 office workers across the UK, US, France and Germany who run, present at or attend meetings were interviewed in March 2016 by independent research agency Vanson Bourne.