Researchers from the World Wellbeing Movement and Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre demonstrate that switching to voice notes can reduce ambiguity in workplace communications and negative experiences in the era of remote and hybrid work according to their newly-published study .
Key Takeaways:
- Reduced Ambiguity: In two of three workplace scenarios tested, voice notes were rated as significantly less ambiguous than identically-worded emails, with negative interpretations considerably reduced through preserved non-verbal cues.
- Gender and Stress Factors: When voice notes did not reduce ambiguity, they actually increased negative interpretation among men, while participants already reporting higher stress levels were more likely to interpret any ambiguous email negatively.
- Asynchronous Communication: Voice notes won’t solve every communication problem but can prevent needless misunderstandings in short, conversational-style messages, especially in hybrid and geographically-dispersed teams where asynchronous communication is relied upon more than ever.
