Face-to-face favourite for chatting to the boss

Despite the business world becoming increasingly technology dependent it seems face-to-face contact is still the preferred way of communicating at work.

In the latest silicon.com poll, 58 per cent of respondents said face-to-face communication is the most common method they use to interact with the boss.

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But despite the recent fuss surrounding instant messaging (IM), only seven per cent of respondents said this is their most common way of communicating with the boss.

Gartner has predicted IM will be the de facto method of business communication by the end of 2011 and IM etiquette lessons are even available. But if the silicon.com poll is anything to go by, few people need them just yet.

Email was second favourite, with 23 per cent saying they use this method most often, while coming in third was the relatively old-school use of the telephone, which got 11 per cent of the vote.

Meanwhile video conferencing - much touted for its green credentials - barely got a look-in, with just two per cent of the vote.