State of Collaboration Survey
Companies are not doing enoughand it’s costing them

Contents
Introduction 								3Key takeaways 							4Why is collaboration important? 		

5

The state of collaboration is in crisis

7

Solving the collaboration crisis 		8

The bottom line 							11Appendix 									122 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Introduction
The pandemic has forever changed the way we work.
Hybrid and remote work have evolved from stop-gap
solutions to employee expectations that companies mustmeet in order to remain competitive. A critical componentof meeting these expectations: providing the tools thatfacilitate and promote working remotely, in the office, or
anywhere in between.
The shift to remote work has also massively impacted how
employees collaborate. Collaboration was previously taken
for granted as something that could be done in-person at
any point, since teams were most commonly in the sameplace at the same time. Of course, that’s no longer thecase.
Collaboration is foundational to the future of work. The
companies that survive—and thrive—will be those who
figure out how to facilitate effective
collaboration (either virtual, in-person, or a
hybrid of both) in this new landscape.

To learn more about the state of collaboration in 2022 andbeyond, Corel conducted a primary research survey thatpolled 2,027 office workers from the US, UK, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, and Australia.

Top survey goals:⚫ Gain a deeper understanding of how well enterprise
employees believe their organization has adapted toremote collaboration.
⚫ Find out if employees feel that their organization
supports them by providing access to the rightcollaboration tools.
⚫ Tools aside, discovering whether employees believe
their company offers them enough opportunities tocollaborate—virtually or otherwise.

It’s no surprise that virtual collaboration
tools have become absolutely essential.
They’re no longer a “nice to have” option.
And virtual collaboration tools must be
simple, intuitive, and effective so teams
can get the most out of them.

2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 3

Key takeaways
Top survey findings:⚫ A whopping 41% of enterprise employees either
have left their job or would consider leaving theirjob due to poor collaboration at work.
⚫ Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (64%) claimthat poor collaboration is costing them at least
three hours per week in productivity, with 20%
claiming they are wasting as many as six hours
per week.
⚫ Employees lay blame for poor collaborationsquarely on company leadership. More than
three-quarters (78%) say leadership could bedoing more to promote collaboration within theorganization, with 27% saying their organization
hasn’t invested in the right collaboration tools.
In this report, we’ll dive deeper into the results of ourresearch and the state of collaboration among today’s
remote and hybrid organizations.

4 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Why is collaboration important?
Employees who find themselves working on remote or
hybrid teams often report communication challenges
that could potentially be alleviated with the righttools, policies, and solutions in place. Insufficientcollaboration infrastructure leads to frustrating crossed
wires and costly miscommunication.
Since we can no longer collaborate in person the way
we once did, it’s essential that organizations adapt tothis new way of working if they want to be successful
in a post-pandemic world.

When asked whether remote or in-person
collaboration were better, here’s what we
found:
20%
believe remotecollaboration
is worse thanin person.

30%
believe remotecollaboration
is better thanin-person.

“Collaboration, in terms of how we work together, andthe tools we use to do so, is firmly under the spotlightat present,” says Scott Day, Chief People Officer atCorel. “Prior to the pandemic, we underappreciated
how easy it was to collaborate. Now, with the shift
to new hybrid models of working, cracks in how wework together have begun to show and the onus
is on businesses to actively seek new models of
collaboration that suit the way that their employees
want to work.”
While many employees enjoy and prefer remote andhybrid work, it’s a mixed bag—and often depends on
the tools at employees’ disposal.

50%
believe they areabout the same.

2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 5

While myriad benefits of hybrid and remote work haveemerged over the past few years, enhanced collaborationis perhaps one of the more surprising. Many would
assume that collaboration was an inherent casualty ofhybrid and remote work, not everyone agrees. Among
those who felt virtual collaboration was superior to inperson collaboration, 44% felt that virtual meetings weremore efficient. Nearly as many (41%) said that they enjoy
setting their work hours, and virtual collaboration makesthat more feasible. And 36% admitted that they find it
less intimidating to follow up with people virtually.

Finally, the statistic about intimidation is perhaps oneof the more poignant insights from this survey. The
traditional workforce is built for people comfortablewith face-to-face interaction, but not everyone feels
comfortable with that—especially if that interaction
includes challenging authority or the status quo, or
speaking up with a less popular opinion. We wereheartened to see how many people who are introverted,
live with a disability that affects communication style,or simply feel more comfortable behind a screen havebenefited from virtual collaboration.

Employers should take note of the context around all
three of those statistics. Meetings have long had a bad
rap (see ubiquitous “this could have been an email”
jokes), but can leaning into virtual meetings yield more
efficient, effective collaboration that makes it easierfor people to hop into a meeting and back to their work
after it’s done without excess transition time?

Of course, these benefits don’t tell the whole story. As
indicated by the statistics in the introduction, the current
collaboration leads a lot to be desired.

As for the enjoyment of setting their own hours, manynational and global companies have noticed thatthey can have people in multiple time zones
collaborating with no flights and hotels required.
While someone in an outlier time zone mightfeel the squeeze a bit more, many companies
have moved toward holding meetings in the
middle of the day so dispersed contributors areless likely to be inconvenienced.

6 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

The state of collaboration
is in crisis
Just how well are businesses doing when it comes tomeeting employee expectations for enabling virtual
collaboration in remote and hybrid work environments?
Not too well, as it turns out. Our report findings tell thetale:⚫ 70% of employees agree that poor collaboration islimiting their productivity and wasting their time.
⚫ 64% of employees report that they waste aminimum of three hours per week, with 20% wasting
as many as six hours weekly.
In fact, collaboration is so poor that 41% of employees are
considering leaving their job as a result, with Gen Zs (55%)
and Millennials (45%) the age groups most likely to quit.
There’s no mystery about what’s driving these issues.
Respondents place the blame firmly on businessleaders, with a whopping 78% stating that their company
leadership isn’t doing enough to promote collaboration
within the organization.

A collaboration crisisby the numbers
employees agree that poor
collaboration is limiting
their productivity andwasting their time.

report that they waste aminimum of three hours per
week, with 20% wasting as
many as six hours weekly.

are considering leaving theirjob due to poor collaboration
at work.

say their company leadership
isn’t doing enough to promotecollaboration within theorganization.
2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 7

Another clear theme: lack of access to and training on the right collaboration tools. Respondents reported
issues with their company failing to invest in the right tools (27%), current tools lacking necessaryfunctionality (25%), a complete lack of access to collaboration tools (22%), and lack of training on thetools they do have access to (21%).
If leaders read the 78% statistic and feel at a loss for how to do better, the sheer volume of concerns
about tools should indicate a clear opportunity for them to take action.

This is a serious issue for businesses
employees agree
agree that poor
collaboration tools
are costing theirorganization revenue

agree it is stunting
overall business growth.

Solving the collaboration crisis
Providing the right tools along with proper access and training fall under an overall headline: to solve thecollaboration crisis, leaders need to listen to what their teams want.
What they want, it seems, is better collaboration and the resources to do it.

8 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Employees understand what’s at stake:⚫ 70% of employees believe better collaboration would improve
employee productivity and time savings.
⚫ 64% believe better collaboration would improve innovation,
creativity, and engagement.
⚫ 61% believe better collaboration would result ingreater business growth opportunities.
⚫ More than half (60%) believe better collaboration
would have a positive impact on employee
morale.
Three in four employees (74%) said that the importanceof cross-platform capabilities and the ability tocollaborate with others on the device of their choosing
are “extremely” or “very” important. Only 7% said thatthese capabilities are “not so important” or “not at allimportant.”
Translation: employees not only want the tools to beable to collaborate more effectively, but they also want
to be able to run those tools on their preferred devices.
That’s a key finding.
Will any tool do? Not exactly, according to our respondents. The mostimportant element of a successful collaboration tool is the ability forteam members to seamlessly work on the same project at the same2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 9

time (39%). Another 32% cited cross-platform compatibility. While those were far and away the most popular answers,
18% highlighted the ability to streamline and simplify communication with employees and teams, and 9% appreciated theability to efficiently manage multiple projects and tasks.
Since we’re talking about leaning into a hybrid and remote work landscape, it was important to ask respondents whichcollaboration tools lead to a better remote experience. The short answer: all of them. It’s clear that multifunctional tools
are critical to fostering engagement and productivity.

Collaboration tools and software
What’s critical for a remote workforce

84%

Video conferencing
Remote access

80%

Instant messaging

80%

facilitate the design, review
and approval process
Mind mapping orconcept creation

10 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

67%
59%

The bottom line

Learn more about these collaboration tools andhow they can benefit you and your organization.

Poor collaboration and communication
opportunities are causing workers to leavein droves, when the talent market is alreadytight. It’s costing revenue and productivity. It’s
damaging morale. It’s leading to rework anderrors.

The future of work hinges on businessleaders figuring out how to foster effective
communication and collaboration. And thestakes are high.

The good news: the market already has ideal
solutions to help remote and hybrid workers
overcome collaboration challenges. Coreloffers a wide variety of collaboration tools forenterprises, including:⚫ CorelDRAW®: Design tools that accelerate
productivity and deliver flawless results.
⚫ MindManager®: Get organized and alignedwith visual productivity tools and mind
mapping software.

It’s clear that some organizations haven’t
adjusted to remote and hybrid work models
as well as they need to. As a result, many
employees find it hard to work well with one
another when they are not in the office orotherwise on-site together, and the tools they
do have in place for virtual collaboration don’t
meet their current business needs.
Listening to employees, creating an environment
in which people want to work, and investingin the right virtual collaboration tools is what
will set businesses up for success in 2022 andbeyond.

⚫ Parallels®: Connecting you and your teamto the applications and desktops everyone
needs—no matter the device or OS.
⚫ WinZip®: One-stop file management andcompression software.

2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 11

Appendix

12 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Question: I believe that virtual collaboration is (select one):
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

Better than in-person

29.95%

36.40%

26.28%

21.57%

24.88%

20.00%

24.75%

About the same as in-person

50.07%

47.10%

51.82%

52.94%

56.22%

49.50%

54.46%

Worse than in-person

19.98%

16.50%

21.36%

25.49%

18.91%

30.50%

20.79%

Question: Why do you think virtual collaboration is better than in-person? (select all that apply)
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

I find it less intimidating tofollow-up with people virtually

36.08%

37.91%

32.20%

25.00%

40.00%

22.50%

44.00%

I’m able to work on myown hours

41.52%

40.66%

47.46%

29.55%

50.00%

35.00%

48.00%

I feel that meetings are
more efficient44.65%

43.96%

54.24%

36.36%

38.00%

35.00%

60.00%

I can eat whatever I want andnot make employees unhappy

25.70%

28.02%

18.64%

38.64%

18.00%

12.50%

24.00%

I work better with employees
across geographies

36.08%

31.59%

47.46%

38.64%

38.00%

50.00%

40.00%

I’m able to get more people toattend my meetings

35.09%

33.24%

47.46%

29.55%

40.00%

27.50%

40.00%

Virtual brainstorms lead tomore creativity

31.47%

30.22%

42.37%

27.27%

30.00%

22.50%

40.00%

Other

2.14%

2.75%

1.69%

0.00%

0.00%

2.50%

2.00%

2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 13

Question: What is the key reason you feel you don’t have the right virtual collaboration tools?
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

My company doesn’t want toinvest in them

27.39%

30.00%

9.09%

35.00%

45.45%

18.18%

7.14%

I don’t feel I have the righttraining to use them

21.02%

23.33%

45.45%

10.00%

18.18%

0.00%

21.43%We have them, but they aren’t
widely adopted

21.66%

23.33%

0.00%

15.00%

27.27%

27.27%

28.57%The tools functionality isn’t
useful.

25.48%

20.00%

27.27%

35.00%

9.09%

45.45%

42.86%

Other

4.46%

3.33%

18.18%

5.00%

0.00%

9.09%

0.00%

14 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Question: Do you think the following collaboration tools lead to a better remote work experience?
Global

US

UK

Y

N

unsureYN

unsureYN

unsureVideoconferencing Software

84.36%

9.27%

6.36%

80.70%

11.30%

8.00%

87.73%

6.36%

5.91%

Remote Access Tools

80.32%

9.37%

10.31%

78.60%

9.90%

11.50%

84.09%

3.18%

12.73%

Mind Mapping or Concept
Creation Tools

59.84%

13.57%

26.59%

49.80%

15.50%

34.70%

57.27%

10.91%

31.82%

Tools that facilitate design,
review and approval process

67.59%

12.04%

20.37%

69.70%

12.50%

17.80%

69.09%

6.36%

24.55%

Instant Messaging Tools

80.81%

9.67%

9.52%

81.50%

9.20%

9.30%

89.55%

5.45%

5.00%

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

YN

unsureYN

unsureYN

unsureYN

unsure83.33%

11.27%

5.39%

89.05%

6.47%

4.48%

86.50%

9.50%

4.00%

93.07%

2.97%

3.96%

76.96%

15.20%

7.84%

84.58%

10.95%

4.48%

78.50%

10.50%

11.00%

85.64%

4.95%

9.41%

70.1%

18.63%

11.27%

88.56%

6.47%

4.98%

77.50%

11.00%

11.50%

55.94%

11.39%

32.67%

67.16%

15.69%

17.16%

59.20%

13.43%

27.36%

59.00%

19.00%

22.00%

72.77%

3.96%

23.27%

69.61%

20.10%

10.29%

76.62%

10.45%

12.94%

72.00%

11.50%

16.00%

91.58%

3.47%

4.95%

2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 15

Question: Please select the option that best fits how better collaboration tools would affect each of the following at yourworkplace:
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Negative
impactNo
impactPositive
impactNegative
impactNo impact

Positive
impactNegative
impactNo impact

Positive
impactNegative
impactNo impact

Positive
impactEmployee morale

10.66%

29.45%

59.89%

10.30%

27.60%

62.10%

12.27%

22.73%

65.00%

12.25%

34.80%

52.94%

Revenue

5.82%

40.21%

53.97%

6.10%

36.80%

57.10%

3.18%

45.00%

51.82%

9.80%

53.92%

36.27%

Greater business growth
opportunities

5.67%

33.00%

61.32%

5.70%

32.20%

62.10%

3.64%

34.09%

62.27%

8.33%

46.57%

45.10%

Employee productivity
and time savings

7.05%

22.35%

70.6%

8.20%

22.80%

69.00%

4.09%

14.09%

81.82%

7.35%

30.39%

62.25%

Innovation and creativity

7.35%

28.17%

64.48%

7.30%

28.30%

64.40%

4.09%

24.09%

71.82%

13.73%

34.31%

51.96%Engagement

9.87%

25.51%

64.63%

9.10%

26.00%

64.90%

10.00%

21.36%

68.64%

12.25%

35.29%

52.45%

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

Negative
impactNo impact

Positive
impactNegative
impactNo impact

Positive
impactNegative
impactNo impact

Positive
impact5.97%

42.29%

51.74%

14.50%

35.00%

50.50%

9.90%

22.28%

67.52%

5.97%

30.35%

63.68%

6.50%

45.00%

48.50%

2.48%

43.07%

54.46%

4.98%

24.88%

70.15%

9.50%

38.00%

52.50%

1.98%

25.25%

72.77%

4.98%

24.38%

70.65%

9.50%

28.00%

62.50%

3.96%

13.37%

82.67%

5.47%

26.37%

68.16%

9.00%

32.50%

58.50%

4.95%

23.27%

71.78%

7.46%

21.39%

71.14%

17.00%

26.00%

57.00%

6.44%

21.29%

72.28%

16 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Question: What makes a collaboration tool successful?
(Please rank in order of preference with 1 being your highest choice)
Global

US

1

2

3

4

Ability for multiple teammembers to seamlessly
work on the same projectat the same time

39.47%

30.14%

17.86%

12.53% 38.90% 30.40%

Ability to work andcollaborate on any device

32.02%

27.18%

21.85%

18.94%

Ability to streamline andsimplify communication
with employees andteams

18.60%

27.87%

34.19%

Ability to efficiently
manage multiple projects
and tasks

9.92%

14.80%

26.10%

Germany

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

17.50%

13.20%

47.73%

29.55%

16.36%

6.36%

32.10%

26.00% 21.30% 20.60% 31.36% 28.64% 19.55%

20.45%

19.34%

16.90%

27.30%

36.10%

19.70%

14.09%

27.27%

36.36% 22.27%

49.19%

12.10%

16.30%

25.10%

46.50%

6.82%

14.55%

27.73%

Italy
1

2

UK

Netherlands
4

1

2

Australia

1

2

3

4

42.16%

28.92%

16.67%

12.25%

30.85% 28.36% 20.90% 19.90%

33.00% 32.00% 22.50%

12.50%

33.33% 30.88%

21.57%

14.22%

36.82% 25.37%

23.38%

14.43%

34.50% 28.00% 24.50%

18.63%

32.35%

37.75%

11.27%

20.90% 28.36%

31.34%

19.40%

5.88%

7.84%

24.02% 62.25%

11.44%

24.38% 46.27%

17.91%

3

50.91%

3

4

3

445.54% 30.69%

14.85%

8.91%

13.00%

23.76%

28.71%

23.27%

24.26%

26.50%

27.50% 28.00% 18.00%

21.78%

26.73%

27.72%

23.76%

6.00%

12.50%

8.91%

13.86%

34.16%

43.07%

25.00% 56.50%

122022 State of Collaboration Survey | 17

Question: How much time will you save a week if your company provides the right collaboration tools?
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

1-2 hours

20.97%

21.00%

22.27%

17.65%

16.42%

23.50%

24.75%

3-5 hours

44.20%

42.10%

45.45%

56.37%

44.28%

39.50%

45.54%

6-8 hours

19.49%

21.10%

17.27%

18.14%

18.41%

21.50%

14.36%

More than 8 hours

7.79%

8.80%

6.82%

3.43%

10.95%

6.50%

6.44%

I don’t save any time

7.55%

7.00%

8.18%

4.41%

9.95%

9.00%

8.91%

Question: Would you consider leaving your job due to poor collaboration possibilities?
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

Yes, I have already handed in
my notice

8.09%

11.80%

5.00%

6.37%

5.97%

2.50%

2.48%

Yes, I have considered this as
an option

23.04%

24.30%

18.18%

26.47%

22.89%

19.50%

22.28%

Yes, I left my previous role forthat reason

9.62%

9.70%

7.73%

9.80%

11.94%

10.00%

8.42%

No, I haven’t considered this as
an option

38.73%

34.20%

45.00%

39.71%

43.78%

41.00%

46.04%

No, it doesn’t impact my role

15.64%

14.70%

20.45%

13.24%

11.94%

21.00%

15.84%

I don’t know

4.88%

5.30%

3.64%

4.41%

3.48%

6.00%

4.95%

18 | 2022 State of Collaboration Survey

Question: Do you think the leadership team at your workplace should do more to encourage collaboration
between colleagues?
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

Yes

78.10%

77.10%

80.00%

77.45%

80.60%

72.00%

85.15%

No

21.90%

22.90%

20.00%

22.55%

19.40%

28.00%

14.85%

Question: How important are cross-platform collaboration capabilities to you - the ability to collaborate with colleagues,
managers, or customers regardless of what device you’re working on (Windows, Mac, Chromebook, etc.)?
GlobalUS

UK

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Australia

Extremely important, because
I am much more productive
when I can collaborate withothers on the device of my
choice33.10%

33.30%

29.09%

29.90%

41.29%

29.00%

35.64%

Very important, because I am
more productive when I cancollaborate with others on thedevice of my choice

41.00%

37.80%

47.73%

45.59%

41.29%

41.00%

44.55%

Somewhat important

17.66%

19.10%

14.55%

17.16%

12.44%

21.50%

15.84%

Not so important

5.67%

6.40%

5.91%

5.39%

4.48%

6.00%

2.97%

Not at all important

2.57%

3.40%

2.73%

1.96%

0.50%

2.50%

0.99%

2022 State of Collaboration Survey | 19

Want to learn more about Coreland our collaboration solutions?
Visit corel.com to discover how
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