HR has the worst phone etiquette of all employees

A new damning report found HRDs need to shape up their telephone manners

BY Emily Douglas 03 Apr 2019

How’s your phone etiquette? We all know one colleague who could stand to be a little more polite over the telephone, whether it’s talking to co-workers or hunting for new clients. Well, new research suggests it’s actually HR professionals who need to what their language.

A recent study from telecommunications provider, 4Com, found that employees in the HR and recruitment sectors have the worst telephone manner of all workers. In fact, one in nine openly admit to demonstrating terrible phone etiquette at work.

According to the report, the five worst professions for phone manners are:

1. HR/recruitment – 87%
2. Media/PR/marketing - 85%
3. Lawyer - 82%
4. Doctor/nurse/dentist - 81%
5. Accounts - 77%

“While texts, emails, social media, and all other forms of communication all have their benefits, speaking on the phone is perhaps most effective at passing on your message,” added Mark Pearcy, head of marketing at 4Com.

“As they allow you to hear the speaker’s tone of voice, phone calls help to avoid, for example, the risk of innocent phrases sounding passive aggressive, jokes being taken the wrong way, or sarcasm interpreted as serious thoughts.”

On the flip of this study, the research looked into what habits HR practitioners find most annoying in the office. Apparently, HR leaders hate:

1. Someone playing loud music in the background – 58%
2. Someone having a conversation with another person in the background – 38%
3. Someone speaking too quietly – 36%
4. Being put on hold – 33%
5. Someone eating their food/having a drink whilst speaking – 29%