Top 3 Things Done on Conference Calls, Including Using the Toilet

By Claire Cleveland

The No. 1 thing employees do while on conference calls is work unrelated to the call.

More surprising, however, is that 47 percent of people in a new survey admit to using the bathroom while on a conference call — and no, we don’t always mean getting up from their desks and leaving the call behind. It turns out that the No. 1 place other than an office that people take a conference call is the bathroom!

More than half (55 percent) have eaten or made food while on a call, the InterCall study said.

The survey included more than 500 full-time employees and found that mobile calling has affected the conferencing habits of employees in more ways than one (see the bathroom example above). Speaking of mobility, the survey found that the number of conference calls made on a mobile device were up 23 percent from 2011 to 2012, and 19 percent from 2012 to 2013.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they’ve fallen asleep on a call. Men are more likely than women to multitask during a conference call, the survey revealed.