Even Telecom Workers Don't Want To Talk On the Phone (fastcompany.com) 52
An anonymous reader shares a report: Of the 1,000 Americans surveyed by Fundera, more than half said they prefer email, even though an often overflowing inbox has been proven to hinder productivity. Other methods of communicating paled in comparison. For instance, face-to-face conversations came in a distant second, preferred by only 15.8% of respondents, while phone calls came in at the bottom across 17 different industries. Even telecom workers don't want to talk on the phone: 70% would prefer to use instant messages or email.
How To Write a Business Letter (Score:1)
To Whom It May Concern,
Put it in writing. Don't call us, we'll call you.
Sincerely,
Corporate Headquarters
Yeah so? (Score:4, Funny)
If we answer the phone then we have to do things like help our customers and solve problems. If you don't answer the phone, eventually people stop calling....
Re: (Score:2)
My thoughts exactly, just because an overflowing in-box hinders productivity... who cares about that? An overflowing in-box in much less annoying than a constantly ringing phone.
Re:Yeah so? (Score:5, Insightful)
If we answer the phone then we have to do things like help our customers and solve problems.
Phone calls are a poor medium for "solving problems". An emailed inquiry with specific information, maybe including a screenshot, is far superior. Then I can send a reply with specific instructions, a photo of the solution, and links for more information. When I hire tech-support people, they almost always ask if they will have to do phone support, and if they are good, I will hire them anyway. So the dreg employees staff the phones, where they recite the manual to idiots too lazy to read it for themselves.
There are some good tech support phone calls, such as this: "I have a critical problem, and just emailed you a detailed description. Please read it and respond ASAP!". But other than that, I don't think so.
Re: (Score:3)
In my experience, email, sky and phonecalls have their uses.
Email is for something that can wait - when I have the time I will read the email. Also, it is only good if the conversation is short (not many replies) and slow.
Phonecalls, for me, are good for urgent matters ("Hi, internet connection for client X is not working, I tried connecting my own PC, checked the wiring, I get an IP, but no internet access"), especially if realtime conversation is needed ("OK, try it now").
I would hate doing the realtime u
Re: (Score:2)
A call has to start been taken seriously as management might actually monitor calls and in some parts of the world listen in.
Real time feed back on how skilled staff are working with consumers and how the brand is been looked after.
That "photo" and "links" sent back and around networks a few times between a stranger and a worker might also be a security risk.
A phone and spoken account details might just help an issue for one person.
The ability to recit
Re: (Score:2)
I just finished working through a huge problem* with my university's IT email team. Every time I sent them an email, they followed up by calling me on the phone. Didn't inspire confidence in their email system.
In related surveys ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Email was salvation for employees (Score:3)
Effective (Score:2)
Crafting Answers (Score:4, Insightful)
Email is a benefit for me. It lets me read the email, check my data, craft an answer, and have a paper trail of the task. I also know what is needed and can refer to the email should there be a dispute.
Phone: "Hey, I need you to blah blah blah"
Me: "Okay, send me an email with the details and I'll get on it."
[John]
Re: (Score:3)
And on the other end, it gives the guy reading your answer the ability to check back an hour later to see the exact same details, rather than relying on his recollection of a phone call that happened while he was playing Solitaire on the computer and getting blown by his secretary.
Re: (Score:2)
What's this ringly thingie on my desk? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
That's a good approach for every job AFAIK. I keep a written paper log book of what I'm asked to do by who and when, and what I did about it. People see that on my desk and it seems to send the correct message of "you won't be able to pin your mistakes on me!"
Doesn't interrupt my schedule (Score:4, Informative)
If someone emails me, I can deal with it whenever it's convenient for me. If they phone me, I'm supposed to deal with it right that moment, no matter what I was in the middle of when they interrupted me. Or I can let it go to voicemail, but that's way less convenient to check than email.
Re: (Score:2)
Value of immediacy (Score:2)
For the vast majority of other situations, a slightly delayed but more accurate response is preferable. If your boss calls you asking for the exact component numbers of last yea
Re: (Score:2)
Or 3), the people who consider the keyboard their mortal enemy, and to whom your post seems as long as War and Peace. They exist, quite sadly, and would gladly see the world degenerate to the dark ages if it meant they never had to worry about the written word again.
Re: (Score:2)
Occasionally you do get a situation where your work is stalled until you get an answer from someone else - those warrant a phone call.
This happens to me a lot. Or rather I am on the receiving end of the phonecalls. Let's say internet conenction stopped working for some client of an ISP. The lower level worker went there, checked the cables etc and found no problems. He has to call me to check the system and would not want to wait an hour until I checked my email (at least if I or my co-worker cannot help him right away, he knows that and can go to another client at the time).
Or some important server goes down.
I would rather receive a phon
Re: (Score:2)
That would be great if people understood what "urgent" means. 90% of them think it's a synonym of "important". It's not.
Re: (Score:2)
Or, umm, they aren't very good at DAVE, DID YOU SEE BILL ABOUT THE FLAIR? organising their ummm things in their head I forget the name right now and collecting the umm data needed to THANKS, GET ME A BLT AND A COKE - NOT DIET you want to know the model number? How would I know that?
The right tool (Score:2)
I don't mind the phone if I need a complicated real-time conversation. The thing is, I usually don't. Sometimes I need something in writing, not just to check on the other person, but also to be sure I remember correctly what he said. And I usually don't need real-time. If I get 6 emails, I can merge that into my workflow without disrupting everything. 6 phone calls? Arrggghhhh!!!!!
Re: (Score:2)
When somebody needs something urgently (say, a production server went down) outside office hours, they have to call me (or my co-worker), because I will not check work email when not working. I may not even be at home (in which case I will try to get internet access or call a co-worker who is hopefully closer to a PC than I am).
I had a conversation once with a client who had a habit of notifying about urgent problems over skype (during office hours). That worked relatively OK, until one day I was away from
Phone calls are rude (Score:1)
Talking on the phone is frankly awful. I think that the only reason why it was more popular in the past was due to the lack of alternatives.
When someone calls you, they're operating under the unspoken assumption that whatever they've called about is more important than what you're doing now. It's essentially the same as someone walking up to you and pestering you about something while you either need or want to do, but with the added benefit of making an awful ringing sound.
Most people instinctively know
Speaking is overrated (Score:1)
If you call me at work, you are going to ask something that takes me at least 15 minutes to find out. And you will not have the attention capacity to take in the answer that will take half an hour to explain.
Just f***ing send an email and receive an essay answering all your questions, including those you didn't know to ask.
Or call and get a wild guess because I can't possibly remember every minute detail about a dozen projects.
Customer service (Score:3)
Why is customer support still mainly done over the phone? Why not do it over instant messenger or text?
Old people need to hear a voice ?
What's special about Telecom workers? (Score:2)
You do realize that "Telecom" is short for "Telecommunications", not for "Telephone" right? It simply means communicating over long distances, it doesn't mean only by telephone. "Telecom" companies these days are more about internet than about phone.
Why would you expect people who work primarily in the field of keeping the internet running (Telecom workers) to prefer to use telephones more than the general public does?
What a ridiculous spin on the title/summary!
Perfect for me... (Score:2)
... due to my disabilities where I can't hear and talk well. I get annoyed when they want me to talk and hear!!
User experience? (Score:2)
This might make me sound like an old fogey, but I wonder if this has to do with call quality and user experience.
I grew up with landlines. I remember cellphones coming into prominence and I remember how annoying it was to talk on them. The calls would get dropped, the audio quality was bad, and worst of all, the latency was terrible.
Over time networks seem to have become more reliable, and the audio quality has gotten better, but all cell calls still seem to have a latency issue. This makes them feel dis
Phonecalls assume ... (Score:2)
The people that don't like the above methods of exchanging messages tend to be control freaks. They get you on the phone and command your attention in real time and at their convenience. Voicemail (or e-mail) ten
Re: RE: Raging Assholes (Score:2)
I sometimes ask to speak to the manager, but only because I want to tell the manager that the employee was exceptionally good. I will be happy to talk to a manager, if they ask. I expect the phone jockey to have limited power, limited info, and limited time. They can move me up the chain, if needed. I am polite, at least to them. It isn't their fault if their company screwed up.
Citation needed (Score:2)
even though an often overflowing inbox has been proven to hinder productivity.
Citation needed
Penny Black (Score:1)
What about voice quality? (Score:2)
We're not far from a century and a half of telephone service. How good's the mike and speaker on your expen$$ive phone?
Email and messaging is all in writing (Score:1)
I only really use the phone if I want to give quick information/directions otherwise I want it all in Email and messaging since it's in writing and the user don't have to waste time repeating the same info, etc. Also it is much more easier to organize email/messaging than a phone inbox