{"id":1569,"date":"2021-01-15T06:29:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2021-06-15T10:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T09:49:17","slug":"mute-not-mute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conferencecall.co.uk\/blog\/mute-not-mute\/","title":{"rendered":"To mute, or not to mute…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conference calling can be an etiquette minefield – the lack of visual clues mean people can talk over each other, context can be lost and conversation can be stilted.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the headache for home workers who could have a noisy pet or child in the background (or could be eating breakfast while on an early morning conference call).<\/p>\n

That’s when the mute button can come in useful – the trick is knowing when and when not to use it…<\/p>\n

The importance of visual clues<\/h2>\n

How to get people’s goat across the globe; look them in the eye in parts of Asia, give them the thumbs up in Iraq (Paul McCartney has avoided playing in Iraq for that very reason…possibly), pay a Jordanian a compliment and stare at someone from Japan.<\/p>\n

If you’re in France or India, all you have to do is simply forget to hit the mute button as you munch and slurp your way through a lunch time conference call<\/a>. That’s according to a worldwide study from communications experts Pitney Bowes.<\/p>\n

The new rude<\/h2>\n

The study, titled ‘The new rude’ looked at workplace etiquette and surveyed 1,000 people in each of the following five countries; France, Germany, India, UK, US, found that 70% of French respondents and 43% of Indian respondents cited not muting during a conference call as their major bugbear.<\/p>\n

And this is a trait that is universally frowned upon as this received an average of 55% of votes across all countries.<\/p>\n

The main causes of cross-continental consternation<\/h2>\n

In both the US, the top spot for the new rude is tied between not looking someone in the eye during a handshake and checking emails in a meeting, both of which racked up 54% of the votes.<\/p>\n

Germany half agrees with the US as 71% of respondents cited not looking someone in the eye during a handshake as being the new rude.<\/p>\n

As mentioned, the French and the Indians both have conference call concerns, as not hitting mute received 70% and 43% of votes respectively, so what of the English?<\/p>\n

Well the English simply detest someone who checks their emails during a meeting a almost half (49%) gave this response.<\/p>\n

What gets your goat?<\/h2>\n

Is there something people do that has you gnashing your teeth? Leave a comment and let us know. Or join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.
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