Not a day goes by without a spam text or call interrupting our day, and more often than not, many Gen Z and Millennial workers have their phones on silent to avoid being bothered by unexpected attempts at being contacted. A new report from Cloaked shows that the average American loses 27 hours a year to spam calls and texts, which doesn’t sound as bad in theory, but definitely becomes annoying in practice.
Spammers do what they do regardless of our feelings about their routine interruptions, some hounding receivers with more malevolent intentions than others. Nine in ten Americans now assume unknown calls are either a scam or spam, with 43% of them having set up systems to block or silence all unknown callers.
This Millennial-Gen Z approach to phone calls isn’t just a personal habit but one born out of frustration, but this has resulted in an increasingly negative effect on the workforce. Cloaked found that while some have developed genuine phone anxiety over these constant intrusions, others have missed important calls and connections as well. Spam texts and calls may be easy to filter out for some, but ignoring the detrimental effects of these trends can be costly.
Workers are starting to avoid phone calls for many reasons, the fear of spam being one of them. It’s time to take back control over communication. (Image: Pexels)
The Tendency to Avoid Phone Calls Is Costing Young Workers Opportunities
When 88% of Americans see an unknown call as a spam or scam attempt, it’s evident that not all is right with how we operate today. This fear of scam calls isn’t one that has been developed without reason, and has much to do with how sophisticated scams have become today, thanks to AI, as well as the scale at which most are disturbed by spam communication every day. The data shows that on average, Americans receive 2.4 calls per day, 1.7 texts per day, and see about four interruptions every single day. This consistent disturbance can wear anyone down, causing them to prefer all unknown communication than deal with another spam text.
This is causing an active change in their own approach to communication. About 63% now let unknown calls go to voicemail by default, and 37% ignore the voicemails as well. The impact of spam texts and calls extends to known contacts. The report found that 24% of its respondents have stopped answering their phones as quickly, even with saved contacts, and 18% take much longer to respond to those they know. Unfortunately, the cost of spam calls extends beyond affecting communication habits.
The tendency to avoid phone calls under the assumption that it is spam has caused two in three Americans to miss out on important calls. The most significant impact has been in missing calls from hospitals and doctors, but many have also missed legitimate calls from the banks and their children’s schools. About 21% have missed out on calls from an employer, and worse still, 8% have even missed a call from a friend or family member facing an emergency.
With the Rise of Phone Anxiety at Work, It May Be Best for HR Teams to Diversify How They Contact Employees
This reluctance to attend phone calls is a problem for employees to address at once, but it doesn’t hurt to be sympathetic to their situation. For those who realize they have begun to avoid phone calls and have changed their approach to communication, the caution is well-placed, but the avoidance only hurts you.
There are many built-in tools and third-party apps that can help block some of these spam calls and texts, helping reduce their frequency. Relying on services that help remove traces of your data floating around online can also help limit how many scammers and spammers have access to your details. For the calls that do make it through, it may help to check the voicemails and find other ways to verify their legitimacy.
For HR and hiring teams as well, it is extremely important to update how they communicate with candidates. Scams impersonating HR teams are on the rise, and doing what is possible to lend some legitimacy to the recruiting team can better help them with their hiring process and ensure that scams are not being committed in their names.
Some measures to consider when contacting job candidates:
- Setting up email IDs that reflect the company domain to ensure that candidates know what to look for
- Mentioning the email ID or the recruiter name in the job posting so employees have something to cross-reference
- Contacting candidates via email first before making the phone call to discuss an interview, so they aren’t alarmed on receiving a message
- Ensuring the recruitment team has professional contacts and verified caller IDs set up, and are aware of how to communicate with clarity
- Working with cybersecurity experts to explore how best to help maintain security standards around the business
The world keeps expanding in new ways every day, but it is also fair to be worried about the many ways that it may be narrowing in on you. Of course, spam texts and calls are not the only reason for this rise of phone anxiety at work or outside of it, but living in fear isn’t a solution. Being wary of the threats is the first step towards addressing them, and it is important to build a strategy that doesn’t end at avoidance.
Do you also avoid phone calls more frequently these days? Tell us why and how it affects your experience at work. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights on workplace trends, layoffs, and what to expect with the advent of AI.
