Technology-related meeting stress causes serious problems throughout the workplace, from lowered productivity to lost business and even missed promotions

Kortrijk, Belgium, 27 April 2016: 9 in 10 office workers experience seriously elevated stress levels when dealing with troublesome technology during meetings, Barco research shows . People’s heart rates reached 179bpm when struggling with technology during a meeting , compared to resting heart rates of around 60-100 bpm – a clear indicator of stress. Research went on to show that two thirds of business people who are forced to take time away from their work to grapple with meeting room technology do so on a regular basis. This has serious negative implications for themselves, and for the business.

Meeting room technology which does not work seamlessly is a huge hindrance for productivity. Amongst the biggest challenges for employees globally were sharing content and screens, and finding the right cables to connect to in-room devices. In trying to deal with tech problems, staff are wasting significant amounts of their valuable time: 66 percent try to fix problems themselves, 50 percent call IT/tech support, 29 percent end up giving up with the tech and going to their plan B. 15 percent even postpone meetings until technology problems can be fixed. The vast majority of us (88 percent) actually pre-prepare for technology failures: 50 percent prepare hand-outs as alternatives, and 47 percent coordinate with IT in advance, and 42 percent even do a tech rehearsal.

As a result of struggling with technology in meeting rooms, nearly a quarter (24 percent) of office workers have missed important deadlines, and some have even missed out on personal opportunities like promotions (13 percent). Worryingly, 12 percent reported that their meeting room technology struggles actually lost the company business. This implies that poorly performing meeting technology has a potential knock on effect of damaging both personal and corporate reputations. In this environment, 74 percent of respondents believe that meeting technology should be taken more seriously.

Dr David Lewis, Neuropsychologist and Director of Mind Labs International said, “People show a clear stress response when faced with difficulties in getting meeting room technology to work. Stress in the workplace does not have a positive impact. People miss deadlines, and some even report that they have missed out on promotions as a result. This should not be happening! Removing these stresses from workers should be a top priority for businesses.”

Lieven Bertier, Head of Product Management ClickShare said, “Investing in meeting room technology which works at the click of a button will significantly help in reducing complexity and stress from office workers lives. When office staff can share screens more easily and collaborate more easily, businesses benefit by becoming more efficient. Having a more productive and efficient business has a positive outcome for businesses growth, and the bottom line.”

About the studies:

Vanson Bourne

1,000 office workers across the UK, US, France and Germany who run, present at or attend meetings were interviewed in March 2016 by independent research agency Vanson Bourne

Mind Lab

A study looking at people’s reaction to technology going wrong in meetings. 27 participants took part in the study, all of whom work in offices, holding meetings and giving presentations at least once a month. Participants were connected to equipment measuring their electrodermal activity and heart rate. They were given two presentation scenarios – one in which the technology was set up with a Barco Clickshare device to work seamlessly, and one in which they had to set up technical aspects themselves. Their stress levels were recorded during both sessions and compared.