01

Challenges to Business
Communication during
Work from Home
 Agenda
02 Introduction

Purpose

Communication
at workplace
Communication
Process
Types of Barriers

Methodology

Data Analysis

Recommendations

Limitations

Conclusion
Introduction
03
COVID-19 was unprecedented

Started Work From Home Culture

Work From Home Culture has pros and cons

Work from Home gave rise to communication problems

04 Purpose and Scope
Challenges to
communication

Remedies to
the barriers

Pertains to the
COVID-19 pandemic
Communication at 05
Workplace
Exchange of information

Verbal and Non-verbal

Important for thriving business

Conflicts – Human and Technical

Communication Process 06
Communicator 1 Communicator 2

1. Communication need 1. Receives the message

2. Defines problem 2. Interprets the message
3. Communication options 3. Decides on a response
4. Selecting a course of 4. Sends the message
action
5. Composes message
6. Delivers message
 07
COMMUNICATION
BARRIERS
08
PHYSICAL
BARRIERS
▪ Time and Distance – Different time zones/ countries
▪ Environment – Non-conductive surrounding
▪ Noise – Unwanted signals and interferences
▪ Medium – Incorrect choice of medium
09 PSYCHOLOGICAL &
PERCEPTUAL BARRIERS
Premature Lack of Distrust
Evaluation Attention
• Lack of trust between
• Pre-conceived notions and • Pre-occupied mind of sender and receiver
prejudices against the receiver leads to leads to
communication communication gap miscommunication
• Evaluation of message • Lack of attention may • Negative meaning of
before completion of lead to impaired message may be
transmission listening and poor perceived in case of
retention distrust
10 CULTURAL BARRIERS
Semantics Tone Tolerance for
• Words mean different Differences conflict
things to different
• Formal v/s informal • Individualistic culture –
people
language comfortable with direct
• Translations sometimes
• Depends on context – conflict
not possible (Finnish
• Collectivists – only
word ‘sisu’ is not
implicitly accept conflict
translatable in English)
11 Methodology
❖ 103 participants chosen accounting for diversity
❖ Self designed questionnaire consisting 12 questions to understand
❖ Exploratory analysis conducted based on categorical data
❖ Results compared with available literature to draw conclusion
1%
19.4%
41.7%
18.4% 42.7%
56.3%
55.3%
62.1% 3%

Male Female Prefer not to say 0 - 2 years 2 - 4 years

Large scale company
4+ years
Mid scale company
Small scale company
DATA ANALYSIS
13 On a scale of 1-5, how much do you think
WFH impacted informal communication
Lack of Informal
5 23.30%
Communication

4 ❑ Sharing experiences in the kitchen at

lunch, water break chatter, or overhearing
40.80%
customer interactions often discloses a
3 18.40% new viable method or sparks ideas.

❑ More than 80% of interviewees agreed

2 9.70% that the shift to the 'work from home'
model had a significant negative impact
on informal communication with their
1 7.80% colleagues..

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00%
 14
Limited and Delayed Communication

❑ 70% of employees ❑ 50 out of 102 ❑ 50% of respondents

from all types of respondents feel are unsure and
organizations agree that the degree of hesitant about
that 'work from transparency and reaching out to their
home has led to information colleagues and
delays in flow of availability has managers online.
communication. reduced drastically.
Lack of Non Verbal
15
Communication Did Lack of Informal
Communication in WFH impact
your work?

❑ Over 90% of respondents

claimed that non-verbal
27%
communication was better in the 43%
office rather than digitally.
30%
❑ The influence of non-verbal cues
on business communication
goes unnoticed by the Yes No Maybe
employees
16
Did you face any communication challenges
Unsuitable Business while working in cross functional teams in
the work from home model?

Communication Environment
❑A suitable work environment is desirable and 21.2%
necessary to promote healthy collaboration 24%
among employees.

❑Over 54 % of the respondents faced significant

challenges in collaborating across cross
functional teams. 54.8%

❑This hindered productivity and directly affected

the quality of their work output.
Yes No Maybe

Psychological Barriers
❑An often overlooked indicator
❑Important in assessing an employee’s morale
and willingness to communicate
17
How many of you faced the following psychological barriers
to business communication did you face during WFH?
44.40%
Hesitant in reaching out to superiors

Not comfortable interacting with colleagues

❑Over 44% hesitant in reaching out to superiors 35.80%

42.00%
❑More than 35% not comfortable in interacting Premature evaluation & close mindedness
with colleagues
54.00%
Don’t know when to communicate
❑A whopping 54% don’t know when to
communicate!! 17.00%
Others
18
How many of you faced technical issues during work- Technical Barriers
from-home?

68.80% ❑The need to eliminate technical barriers has

Internet connectivity issues grown significantly

❑A robust technical infrastructure a must for

Frequent power cuts 43.40% smooth business communication

27.00%
❑Over 68 % reported internet connectivity issues
Improper audio equipment
as a major source of frustration during work-
from-home
31.00%
Improper video equipment
❑Another 43% reported frequent power cuts as a
17.00% major impediment to being connected to their
Other colleagues at work
19 Recommendations
▪ Conducting workshops

▪ Documenting the meeting

▪ Regular Informal meets

▪ Promoting cross-functional teams

▪ Socializing with the team

▪ Transparency

▪ Arranging for proper connectivity

Limitations 20
▪ Full-Time employees only

▪ Quantum of challenges- not exhaustive

▪ Lack of previous quantitative data

▪ Subjective perception

▪ Study focused on Service Industry

21 Conclusion
▪ Internal communication impacted

▪ Delay in flow of communication

▪ Lack of Non-Verbal communication

▪ Internet issues

▪ Hurdle for all types of organizations

Thank You