Workers use video conferencing services to interact with colleagues around the world. They will need to be careful. According to a recent survey, many supervisors still don’t trust their staff with the technology. This lack of belief has had major consequences. With nearly a quarter (24 percent) of respondents polled for the report claiming they’ve seen an employee dismissed as a result of mistakes made on video or audio calls using platforms like Zoom.
According to the Vyopta survey, just about two-thirds of managers trusted workers to successfully handle the remote technologies required to make remote work successful, implying that a large portion still does not believe in their workforce’s technical skills.
Zoom fails:
According to the study of 200 executives from US-based organizations with 500 or more employees, 83 percent have seen an employee face disciplinary action as a result of an incident on a virtual call.
In other words, 38 percent had witnessed an employee receive a formal reprimand as a result of an error on a video conference, while 40 percent had witnessed an informal caution. A third (33%) reported seeing a staff member removed from a project and slightly more than half (53%) reported seeing someone removed from the role of monitoring or organizing calls.
The executives polled for the survey were divided on who was responsible for keeping remote work and collaboration technology functioning properly. The result was that 58% blamed the business and 42% blamed the employees.
However, the risks of making a mistake appear to be substantial for many organizations. Over a third (32 percent) claim they have lost a client or business opportunity due to technology or connectivity issues. 41 percent stated it has resulted in a project deadline being missed.
“The data clearly demonstrates that there is a misalignment in management and employee expectations surrounding remote and hybrid work, as well as a lack of training on how to manage and succeed in this new style of working,” stated Alfredo Ramirez, CEO of Vyopta.