Office etiquette between different generations

On TechCrunch Erik Schonfeld recently wrote about a survey conducted by NexisLexis that concluded that Baby Boomers find mobile phones and Blackberries detrimental to workplace etiquette.  That really isn’t a surprise, but what is surprising is the perception of productivity. While 35% of Generation Y’ers thought texting and emailing during meetings improved productivity, only 20% of Baby Boomers agreed with that question. Maybe that’s because Generation Y, on average, has speedier thumbs

The survey had a focus on legal professionals, so the information may be screwed, but another interesting stat was that 72% of legal professionals find the use of laptops and mobile devices to be impolite, comparing to only 60% of white collar respondants. It would be interesting to see that data for more industry sectors – what industry is the most tolerant?

The bottom line is no matter what generation you fall within, every situation needs to be contemplated individually. Falling within Generation Y, I know when I’m in a meeting, seeing a collegue turn off his or her Blackberry can be a refreshing feeling. But on the same note, there are those meetings that seem to be built quite nicely for catching up on email. Whatever the situation, if it’s your meeting, maybe you can gauge your ability to engage by the number of busy thumbs around the table. Afterall, if the team doesn’t feel the message needs their undivided attention, how productive can the meeting possibly be?