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Loud and clear: Voice notes could improve workplace communication, research finds

A switch to voice notes can help reduce ambiguity in workplace communications, and in turn reduce negative experiences, according to a newly-published study of workplace wellbeing.

Researchers from the World Wellbeing Movement and the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford presented participants with three common work scenarios between an employee and their line manager. Messages either took the form of a written email or required listening to an identically-worded voice note.

After reading the email or listening to the voice note, participants were then asked for their subjective interpretation of the message: positive, negative, or neutral.

Both communication methods are examples of ‘asynchronous communication’ – communication that does not take place in real time – and are relied upon more than ever in an era of remote and hybrid work as well as increasing cross-border (and cross-time zone) collaboration.

In two of the three scenarios, respondents rated the messages sent via voice notes as significantly less ambiguous than those sent via email, and negative interpretations of the messages were considerably reduced.

The researchers found gender differences when voice notes did not reduce ambiguity. In that case – such as in the final scenario – they actually increased negative interpretation among men.

And regardless of gender, participants who were already reporting higher levels of stress were more likely to interpret any ambiguous email message negatively.

Such findings highlight the complex nature of workplace communication, and the role which clear and effective communication can play in our wellbeing at work.

Sarah Cunningham, Managing Director of the World Wellbeing Movement and lead author of the new paper, said: “Many of us can relate to that moment of opening an email from a manager or colleague, and feeling our stomach drop. Email is efficient, but it also strips away non-verbal cues that help us interpret the sender’s intent. Our study shows that when a message is ambiguous, people are far more likely to jump to negative conclusions.

“A short voice note won’t solve every communication problem, nor should it replace email entirely, but when it reduces ambiguity in short, conversational-style messages like those we tested in this study, it can prevent needless misunderstandings, especially in hybrid and geographically-dispersed teams.

“Further research is needed to understand which other communication modes or interventions might reduce ambiguity even more effectively in asynchronous work, but our findings suggest that reducing ambiguity itself should be a central focus for any people leader seeking to strengthen communication.”

Dr William Fleming, a Research Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford and second author of the new paper, said: “Voice notes are increasingly common in our digital lives, so these findings demonstrate their value for workplaces too. Reducing ambiguity in workplace communications is something we should all strive for.

“The variation we find in the different voice notes highlights that we have to think about who is receiving messages, as well as the task at hand.

“For example, we find that men aren’t as receptive to voice notes when the messages do not bring clarity, which could tell us something about men’s comfort with different technologies, or about men-to-men relationships. There’s still more to learn.”

‘Could This Have Been a Voice Note? An Experiment Comparing Voice Notes and Emails’ is published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior Reports.

Could This Have Been a Voice Note? An Experiment Comparing Voice Notes and Emails

Sarah-Louise Cunningham and William Fleming

Abstract

Asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) is vital for collaboration among distributed and virtual teams, with email the most common mode. Yet paradoxically email is a key source of work stress. Alternative modes of CMC ought to be evaluated as to whether they are more effective. This study contributes to this need by evaluating voice notes as a ‘richer’ CMC mode. In an online experiment (N=793) we test the causal effect of changing CMC mode from email to voice note for hypothetical manager communications. Measuring interpretation bias (IB), we find using voice notes conditionally reduces negative interpretations. Benefits are conditional on the capacity to reduce ambiguity in messages, providing heterogeneous results. When CMC mode is unable to reduce ambiguity, negative IB actually increases for certain groups (men and those with higher stress). However, for women and those with lower stress, voice notes have only positive or neutral effects.

Mental Well-Being at Work: Why and How to Measure It

Rotman Magazine

The business case is clear: A one-point increase in employee well-being on a scale from one to 10 leads to an average 12 per cent increase in productivity.

2024 UK Wellbeing Report

Maria Cotofan, Richard Layard, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, and Sarah Cunningham

Abstract

Understanding the levels, the distribution, and the evolution of wellbeing across places is of paramount importance to the individuals living in them, to their broader communities, and to policymakers looking to improve the wellbeing of people. In this report we investigate how wellbeing has evolved across the UK over the last decade and show that positive trends in the first part of our time series have been partly reversed following Contents Context Data and Methods Descriptive Statistics the Covid-19 Pandemic. We show this in terms of both Life Satisfaction and the share of people experiencing particularly low levels of wellbeing. We refer to the latter as the share living below the Happiness Poverty Line, a group making up roughly 1 in 8 people across the UK. We find that there is significant variation in both these measures across areas, with some places becoming happier over time but many still lagging behind.

2025 UK Wellbeing Report

Maria Cotofan, Richard Layard, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Sarah Cunningham, and Ben Wealthy

Abstract

Using new data and building on last year’s report we investigate how three measures of wellbeing, namely (1) average life satisfaction, the (2) share of people living with low levels of wellbeing, and the (3) share of people living with high levels of wellbeing, have evolved across UK areas and over the past decade. Using 11 waves of data from the Annual Population Survey we show how these trends have changed across the four countries, across Local Authority Districts, in major cities, and in rural and urban areas. We find that while wellbeing has broadly stagnated at the national level, there is substantial inequality across places and the communities that live there, with some areas flourishing while others increasingly lag behind. The implications for policymakers are substantial.

Sarah Cunningham: I hope the next government prioritises people’s wellbeing over GDP growth

Tortoise Media

Every area of policy has implications for our wellbeing, so it’s vital that whoever ends up in No10 considers every single policy decision through a wellbeing lens to ensure a healthier, happier, fairer society.

After all, wellbeing is a science: it can be measured, and improved.

But although the ONS (Office for National Statistics) has been tracking life satisfaction – the most reliable measure of population wellbeing – since 2011, these efforts have not been matched by effective actions to address declining trends.

Wellbeing is not a luxury. It’s a basic human right which the next government must protect

The Big Issue

With the general election just a few days away and the past few couple of weeks’ news being dominated by the launch of the party manifestos, I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the content of the manifestos but I’ve been disappointed. There has been a notable absence in the priorities of those vying for Number 10: wellbeing.

Wellbeing is a bit of a misunderstood term, often overlooked in discussions about what truly matters to people’s everyday lives. But let’s get one thing straight: wellbeing is not a luxury. It’s a basic human right that permeates every single issue at this general election and our politicians must sit up and take notice.

Work Wellbeing Playbook: A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve Employee Wellbeing

Sarah Cunningham, William Fleming, Cherise Regier, Micah Kaats, and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

Abstract

The Work Wellbeing Playbook is a concise guide that distils insights from a large-scale systematic literature review of workplace wellbeing interventions. It presents high level insights in an accessible, and plain English format for ease-of use.

With support from Indeed, and in collaboration with our academic partner at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, the World Wellbeing Movement has curated this Playbook of evidence-based interventions categorised by 12 key drivers of workplace wellbeing.

The researchers reviewed more than 3,000 academic studies of workplace wellbeing interventions to identify strategies proven to increase the wellbeing of employees across diverse work environments. Recognising that business leaders often face time constraints, we have condensed the key insights into this open-access resource and distilled them into an accessible, high-level summary to support busy professionals.

This playbook builds upon the World Wellbeing Movement’s science-based recommendations for how to measure both how employees are feeling at work, and why they are feeling that way – just like the Indeed Work Wellbeing Score, also created alongside experts from the Wellbeing Research Centre, does. Once you have collected the data, you can then use this Playbook to address the areas for improvement within your organisation.

Business leaders are recommended to keep diversity top of mind when leveraging the playbook to craft a holistic employee wellbeing strategy for their organisation. When choosing interventions, employers should consider factors such as their workplace environment, industry, geographical location, and the unique needs of their employees.

Although there is no magic formula, and all interventions have their limitations, many companies start to affect positive change when they combine multiple interventions (organisational-level interventions, group-level interventions and individual-level interventions) across multiple drivers of employee wellbeing.

Sarah Cunningham

Sarah Cunningham is Chair of the World Wellbeing Movement (WWM)’s Expert Group on Work Wellbeing, having previously served as Managing Director of the WWM from its launch in June 2022 to May 2026. She is also a co-author of the Work Wellbeing Playbook.

The WWM is a coalition of global leaders from business, civil society, and academia that have come together to help put wellbeing at the heart of decision-making in both business and public policy.

Sarah is a senior business leader, board director, and Future of Work strategist with over 20 years’ experience, gained in companies including Mastercard, Google, BT, CapGemini and Accenture.

Prior to being appointed to her current position, Sarah was Vice-President and lead of Mastercard’s European Technology Hub in Dublin, where she was focused on creating a great place to work with employee wellbeing as the cornerstone. Under her leadership, Mastercard’s Dublin operation grew from 450 employees to just over 1,000 with employee engagement scores improving year-on-year, and moved to a flagship new state-of-the-art campus.

A former Management Consultant, Sarah holds an Executive MSc in Behavioural Science from The London School of Economics and Political Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business & Law from University College Dublin; a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the London Business School; Google’s MBA-level ‘Marketing Academy’ executive education diploma from INSEAD business school; and is a graduate of the Smurfit Senior Leadership programme in partnership with Darden University, where she was awarded a partial scholarship in 2019.

Sarah is a frequent speaker on the topics of Workplace Wellbeing, the Future of Work, and Diversity & Inclusion. In 2019, she was honoured to be named “Business Role Model of the Year” at the Women in IT Ireland awards.

In her spare time, Sarah enjoys hiking with her husband. Over the years, she has hiked in the Himalayas, Lesotho, Peru (the Inca Trail), Spain (a leg of the Camino), the Alps and of course, beautiful scenic Ireland.