How we’re bringing our texting habits into the workplace

SMS messages have been a part of our personal lives pretty much since mobile phones first became available. But what impact does texting have on our working lives?

Cloud communications provider RingCentral has released the results of a survey looking at how SMS is being used in the workplace.

Of the 500+ people surveyed 78 percent have between one and four messaging apps on their phone. Over half use two or three apps on a daily basis so it’s perhaps not surprising that 43 percent have sometimes felt a communication overload with too many apps to check for messages.

SMS is widely favored over other apps like Facebook Messenger with 72 percent preferring to text rather than message. 74 percent find texting easier while 56 percent find it faster.

47 percent of all respondents receive between one and 20 texts per day while 31 percent receive 21-40 texts, however, for business users this figure rises to 37 percent. Ten percent of all users and 12 percent of business users receive 60 or more text messages per day.

Business users seem to send fewer texts though, over half of all users (52 percent) send 1-20 texts a day (only 47 percent for business users). 47 percent of all users send 21-60+ texts a day but only 42 percent of business users send this number.

Texts are mostly used for quick responses (71 percent), though 29 percent use them to conduct full conversations. 38 percent are willing to put themselves at risk by texting while driving. Emojis are creeping into business communications too, with 57 percent admitting to sometimes using them.

The overall picture then is that texting has made it into the workplace and workers feel they need to stick to the same protocol and norms they would in personal conversations -- making quick responses, using emoji and so on. This is leading to communication overload and a general lack of protocol surrounding texting at work.

You can see a summary of the findings in infographic form below.

Image Credit: Bloomua / Shutterstock