Connected technologies: Europe cannot collaborate

The survey of 6045 European office workers exposed a lack of team work and selfish habits, ranging from the critical, forgetting to share information, to the trivial but annoying, over half of workers don’t refill the printer when it runs out of paper, and nearly 40% change the temperature of the air conditioning without asking.

The worst habits of European office workers have been revealed as:

1. Leaving printed pages in the paper tray (54.60%)
2. Not refilling the printer with paper when it runs out (51.40%)
3. Leaving screens and projectors switched on           (42.80%)
4. Forgetting to share important information or documents (41.10%)
5. Talking over others in meetings (40.70%)
6. Moving documents or creating new folder structures (39.50%)
7. Ignoring problems with communal office technology (38.60%)
8. Changing the temperature of the air conditioning (38.10%)
9. Forgetting passwords (36.60%)
10. Typing during a call / conference call / Carrying on with own work during a meeting (36.20%)
11. Making changes to or not following a template (29.90%)
12. Not logging out of meeting room PCs (29.50%)
13. Changing passwords/access rights and not letting people know (22.10%)

Despite noticing these bad habits in their colleagues, 1 in 6 of European workers (16.8%) prefer to do nothing about the problem, 20% like to leave a note in a communal area and 19% email their colleague to complain. But watch out if you work in I.T. – 1 in 6 said they email the company or colleagues’ bosses to point out their failings.

- Most of us will recognise these bad habits as a part of office life, which it’s easier to live with rather than try to change. However, there’s a serious issue behind these findings too. If your business isn’t set-up to promote team work and the sharing of information, you will be losing opportunities to grow. How much of the information that workers are forgetting to share could have led to new business, saved costs or inspired a new idea? – said Adam Bieniewski, Marketing Manager CEE, Sharp Electronics Europe.

Collaboration is essential for a happier, creative, more productive workforce, and businesses can encourage this through the technology that they introduce. We know that the right technology has the potential to transform ways of working, making sure everyone has access to information they need.

To find out more about Sharp’s office technology solutions visit your local Unlock webpage and download a free whitepaper.

Notes to editors

• Research was conducted with 6,045 office workers in nine EU countries (France, Germany, UK, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Hungary).