Crackberry Usage in Meetings a Bad Thing?

Jury is out on email checking in the conference room, according to results from a new survey.

Your Blackberry is practically begging you to do it. You are trying desperately to pay attention to the zillionth Power Point presentation on the big screen in the conference room, but still you thumb through your email messages and occassionally even hit send with a reply.

If it’s any consolation, you are not alone–in fact 86 percent of executives say its a common practice in their offices. But here’s the bad news. That same survey, developed by Robert Half Management Resources, says 31 percent polled do not approve of emailing while in a meeting. That’s a close second, however, to those that do. Some 37 percent of folks give the practice a green light — as long as the communication is urgent in nature, the report says.

The survey gathered responses from 150 senior executives — including those from human resources, finance and marketing departments — in 1,000 of largest companies in the United States, according to a Robert Half Management Resources statement. The poll asked executives how common the practice was, and 53 percent responded ‘very common."

"The least disruptive option is to avoid using handheld e-mail devices during meetings, but that may not always be possible for executives who must be accessible," said Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources in the statement. "Professionals who may have to check e-mail during gatherings should alert their hosts and be as unobtrusive as possible."