As many as 40% of employees believe social tools help foster better teamwork, according to a recent survey conducted for Microsoft Corp. by research firm Ipsos. The survey polled 9,908 information workers in 32 countries.
The survey report identified differences in perceptions and use of social tools among different regions, industry segments and gender of employee. Some notable findings include:
- More employees in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region are using social tools, compared to North America and Europe;
- Decisions to forego social tools are related to security in financial services (74%) and government (72%), compared to productivity loss in retail (59%) and travel & hospitality (57%);
- More women than men believe their company restricts the use of social tools; and
- More men than women attribute higher productivity levels to social tools in a professional setting.
“Just as email accelerated the pace of business in the ’90s, enterprise social will be the driver of greater agility and transformation in the 21st century workplace,” said Kurt DelBene, President, Microsoft Office Division. “As we look ahead at how collaboration and communications continue to evolve, we believe the tools people use today — email, instant messaging, voice, videoconferencing, social — will come together and be deeply integrated into apps in ways that will speed collaboration and truly transform the way people work.
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In one example, the Red Robin restaurant chain reported significant success with social tools. “Enterprise social tools like Yammer have helped Red Robin transform a widespread employee base of nearly 30,000 across 44 states into a more tightly knit workforce focused entirely on team member and guest satisfaction,” said Chris Laping, Senior Vice President of Business Transformation and CIO. “Even more importantly, it helps us ensure we reach our workforce — 87% are millennials — in the right ways for learning and engagement because how they want to be engaged is through social and mobile.”
For more information on the survey, visit the Microsoft News Center.
