But, according to recruitment scoring website Hirescores.com, 63% confess a ‘virtual disciplinary' is much less effective than a face-to-face meeting and 31% think sorting out problems online can actually make things worse, as 16% think it leads to ‘Chinese whispers'.
But a sixth of managers now allow MSN to be used in the workplace. And although 96% of employers think this technology is only used for work purposes, 40% of staff claim they regularly use it to moan about managers to their colleagues.
Commenting on the findings, Lisette Howlett, founder of HireScores.com, said: "Generally, office problems can be resolved through good communication and therefore the main problem when dealing with complaints via email or MSN is that members of staff are never given the opportunity to fully express their thoughts and therefore who's to say the problem will not happen again in the future?
"Meetings have proven to be much more effective when trying to ascertain the facts, not only by making the member of staff feel at ease but also by watching their body language and prising out all of the relevant information from them to resolve the problem efficiently.
"At the forefront of every manager's mind should be the prevention of such problems. Therefore, having a communicative and transparent relationship with your employees and leading by example is always the key to a happy workforce."
Email and MSN messenger replaces conversation in resolving workplace issues
Almost a fifth of managers (18%) would prefer to sort out issues in the workplace using email or MSN messenger, rather than talking to staff face to face.
