Most businesses have made emails their default team communication tool. If you also have done the same, you should think beyond it because employees now want more.
According to the latest survey from Spike, 77% of employees prefer using emails for work Vs. 23% of employees prefer messaging apps for work. However, 71% of employees say that they would love to use an app that combines all emails and messaging in one place.
As a small business owner, you should understand what your employees want to improve communication at the workplace.
What do People of Different Ages Prefer?
People of different ages use different communication tools.
Emails are most popular among the age group of 35-54 years while messaging is most popular among the age group of 18-34 years.
The following table explains which communication tool is popular among which group.
Needless to say, people like to use different communication tools because each tool serves different needs.
52% of employees, as found in the Spike survey, like emails because emails allow them to read and respond when they want to. And 43% of employees turn to messages because messages are more immediate.
What’s more, 33% of employees find sending messages more modern than sending emails.
With the above data set, we can easily understand that employees use both emails and messages according to their needs. As a result, they have to switch between different communication tools often.
Switching Between Internal Communication Channels Hurts Productivity
Switching between internal communication channels (like emails to messaging) present many problems.
Some of the common problems caused by switching between different communication tools are mentioned below:
- There can be mixed communication
- Switching makes it difficult to find information
- Frequently switching between communication tools wastes lots of valuable time
- Employees get distracted from the task at hand when they switch between communication tools
In short, switching between different communication tools hampers employees’ productivity.
Ideal Solution for Small Businesses
What could be the ideal solution for your small business?
The answer is simple. You need to find a communication tool that minimizes switching between communication tools.
Though employees love to use emails at the workplace, they also like messaging for immediate communication.
So an ideal communication tool would be the one that can allow employees to send both emails and messages.
Dvir Ben-Aroya, co-founder and CEO at Spike, says, “Email’s open nature and inherent respect for flow are superpowers. As time goes on, we’ll see those characteristics increasingly ingrained into our work software for true productivity. Spike brings modern email, messaging and collaborative tools together on one platform, while also having shared workspaces for real-time channels where you can collaborate with any email address holder in the world.”
When you are going to choose a communication tool for your team, make sure that it is easy-to-use and fully-secure. Also, you should go for the tool that encrypts emails and messages for having added cybersecurity.
The Survey
In September 2019, Propeller Insights conducted this survey online for Spike. 1,001 adults participated in the survey. You can access the full survey here.
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