Conference call claptrap

Research commissioned by Plantronics has revealed that 84 per cent of over 1,000 UK workers are more reliant on conference calls to do business than ever before.

But interestingly 60 per cent of respondents admit to doing other things when on calls such as checking emails, shopping online and doing unrelated work.

Some also complained about the quality of the calls, saying they couldn't hear the conversation and the background noise was drowning everything out.

Now for me conference calls are a part of my daily life and some are definitely more interesting than others. But my biggest pet hate is when I can't hear the people speaking and they often refuse to pick up the phone becuase they are afraid of saying something they shouldn't. If only......

In particularly dull press conference calls over the years I admit to finding my attention wandering a bit, maybe checking the odd email, or tidying up my desk. It is only natural - after all the average human attention span is about seven minutes.

But obviously now, I hang on every word of every call.