By SWNS staff
New York office - 646-873-7565 / usnews@swns.com
Eighty-five percent of Americans who travel for work say they've become new friends with co-workers when traveling together, according to new research.
The survey of 1,000 American business travelers found sometimes you have to travel hundreds of miles away to get to know somebody who might sit less than 15 feet away from you every day.
The nine-to-five desk grind can put a hamper on one's desire to be social — nearly one in five of those studied say they only socialize with colleagues outside of work once a month or less.
According to the poll, conducted by Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, over four in five business travelers also say they're more likely to socialize with colleagues when on the road together as opposed to being in town together.
Being friends with your co-workers is especially difficult if you've never met them in person.
Whether you work remotely or have colleagues at an office in a different city, nearly every respondent (91 percent) said they were surprised meeting their co-workers for their first time, because they had expected them to be a bit different after only interacting via email.
But “different” doesn’t always mean for the worse – in fact, the survey found just the opposite.
Sixty-two percent of those polled found their co-workers to be a lot more personable and easier to talk to in person than they expected.
Nearly half (43 percent) found co-workers funnier and a third found them to be more creative than they imagined.
“Being there in person matters, whether you’re traveling for business or leisure," said Heather Balsley, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Mainstream brands at IHG. "Since we opened our first hotel in 1952, [we] have helped bring millions of business travelers together, from a team traveling for their first major client presentation to the two entrepreneurs who founded their startup in a Holiday Inn Express lobby.”
While working remotely certainly has its advantages, there is something to be said about meeting in person or talking face-to-face rather than communicating via email.
According to the results of the survey, the average respondent will have to field four phone calls per day to clarify something first discussed over email, which can be a real headache for most.
And working remotely can also lead to some rather embarrassing mishaps, as the large majority of those polled can personally attest to (74 percent).
Over half of the respondents said they’ve mistakenly missed a question or comment addressed to them because they were multitasking, while an awkward 16 percent of respondents say they’ve said something rude about a person on the call while forgetting to mute themselves.
“Even in a digital-first world, people crave in-person connections with colleagues," said Balsley. "This study served as the foundation for our new global marketing campaign, 'We’re there.' Through this campaign, we’re enabling, uncovering and sharing the stories of real-life, meaningful connections that have happened at our hotels.”
