Team work goes out of the window as recession bites

That's the message from BT Business, which says that a survey of 3,473, carried out by YouGov in December last year, showed 19% saying they prefer to work with colleagues and are looking to safeguard their own projects and contacts. More than one in 10 employees (12%) admitted to becoming more insular and more than a quarter (27%) are putting in longer hours. The findings, says BT Business, show employees instinctively protecting their own work in tougher economic conditions. It advises using standardised business processes and unified communications to underpin them, by automatically combining information across email, voicemail and instant messaging. Says John Dovey, IT services director at BT Business: "Although we can't change human nature, business practices can be enabled to make employees collaborate as a matter of course. When a company integrates its communications channels, it automates information sharing. The approach helps firms to operate more effectively in the current climate and to be in better shape for the upturn when it comes."