Getting fired is a traumatic experience. To lessen the blow, most bosses prefer letting employees go through a face-to-face conversation. Yet it may come as a surprise that some employees would rather be fired via text or instant message, especially those who are younger.
A survey of 1,154 working adults from software company Cyberlink showed that one in 13 workers would prefer to be fired over text or instant message instead of having the conversation in-person. For millennial employees, the number increased to one in eight workers.
"Being fired is never a comfortable thing," Richard Carriere, senior vice president of global marketing, tells CNBC Make It. However, he says that because millennials are heavy users of social media and the digital space, they feel more comfortable conveying "feelings in a short and succinct way."
Carriere notes that as the workplace becomes more technologically dependent and telecommunication increases, there may be a heavier reliance on communicating via text and instant messaging.
According to the survey, 37 percent of millennial working Americans say they would prefer to ask a quick work-related question over text or instant message. Notably, 16 percent of millennial workers would like to present an idea to their boss via email, compared to just three percent via phone, and 15 percent would rather give critical feedback via text or instant message.
However, communicating through these channels has its downfalls in the workplace. Carriere points to the survey, which lists communication pain points for millennials working in an office and those working remotely, as an example: Nearly half of all respondents for both groups say their top "communication pain point" is that it's easy to misinterpret the tone of emails, IMs, etc.
The next biggest issue for remote workers, who mainly communicate through technology, was the difficulty in fostering strong relationships with their boss. Carriere says this demonstrates that, although there is a trend in using digital communication, employees still want that in-person connection.
"People are human at the end of the day," says Carriere. "People want to interact in a comprehensive way. Brief messages don't have that human interaction."
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See also:
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