'Telephone tennis' costing companies billions
Staff lose 30 minutes a day playing 'telephone tag' - leaving messages on absent colleagues' voice mail systems - a new survey has claimed.
Link: Business broadband charges to fall
According to an online survey of 30,000 computer-based workers undertaken on behalf of Siemens Communications, some 70% of workers believe that up to a third or more of their calls do not get through to the right people first time.
In fact, more than a quarter believe that 50% or more of their calls fail first time because people are in meetings, out of the office or simply engaged.
Siemens estimates that the minimum amount of time wasted every day by every office worker playing telephone tag or making unsuccessful phone calls is 30 minutes, which amounts to £83m per day or billions of pounds per year in lost productivity.