Teamsgiving Survey Results

Inspired by the notion of giving thanks in November, we surveyed our customer base to gauge attitudes and unearth insights on the way knowledge workers feel about their teams. Nearly 500 PGi customers from a variety of industries and company sizes replied. And guess what? Teams have a lot of be thankful for. In fact, we’d like to crown these survey results as our ode to #Teamsgiving.

Happy Collaborating:

Overwhelmingly, survey respondents were pleased with their teams. On a scale of 1-10, 77% of respondents scored their teams at a 7 or higher. And three-quarters of those surveyed preferred being a part of a team (only 25% would rather be play a role as an individual contributor).

A whopping 83% of teams use email to stay on track. Meetings, IM, team workspaces and texting round out the list of tactics. Who said email was dead?

The bigger the team the more meetings and the more technologies that are in play to manage work. Not a huge surprise, but a great reminder that small teams get things done with less resources.

When asked what is holding teams back, leadership skills were at the forefront. Effective collaboration, solid strategy and transparent communication were the top three reasons that teams don’t move forward. Effective technology for teams was rated as the fourth largest challenge.

The Generational Divide:

There appears to be a big difference between the ways Millennials collaborate vs. those over the age of 36. Millennials tend to attend more in-person meetings and older office workers attend more virtual meetings. This got us thinking: Is this because Millennials are beginning their careers and chained to their desk? Does this under 36 age group prefer to be at the office? Are more seasoned employees more familiar with virtual collaboration tools and thereby attend more meetings remotely? Although we didn’t collect enough detail to fully analyze this trend, the survey results pointed to some interesting differences.

When asked about ideal team culture, all respondents agreed that “working together for a common goal” is the ideal approach. But big differences surfaced when reviewing answers by age group:

• About 87% of Millennials want to work and play with colleagues.
• Whereas only 25% of those over 36 were interested in the work together, play together mentality.

Generational divides in the workplace clearly have an effect on how teams collaborate, meet and even socialize. But regardless of how these different age groups prefer to work, they still all are on board for working together.

At PGi, we understand that collaboration is at the heart of getting things done and working as a team. And let’s face it, being thankful and appreciative of colleagues is solid business practice all year long.

How do you feel about your team? Are there obvious generational divides in your workplace that effect your collaboration? Let us know in the comment section below or tweet us @PGi with the hashtag #Teamsgiving to tell us more about your team and why you’re thankful for them.

Read more about our thoughts on teamwork in Teamwork Makes the Dream Work eBook online.