KEY POINTS:
More than a quarter of New Zealanders have pretended to lose a Post-it-Note left by a manager or spouse to avoid doing a task.
A survey of more than 1600 people by 3M New Zealand has revealed Kiwi office workers' communication skills are often lacking.
Seven per cent
of respondents said they had left an anonymous note informing a colleague they had body odour and 3 per cent left a note saying a co-worker had bad breath.
Four per cent anonymously told a colleague they loved them.
Seven people claimed they had been fired via a Post-it Note.
Forty-three per cent have communicated something they later regretted to a colleague - 49 per cent of those issued it via email, 31 per cent on a piece of paper and 7 per cent left a phone message. (Of these respondents, 80 per cent were female).
Twenty-eight of those surveyed said they had written love notes on Post-it Notes for their beloved to find in their briefcase or on the fridge. Of these, 84 per cent were female.
Over half the respondents (55 per cent) admitted communicating anonymously with co-workers, including 41 per cent who had praised a colleague with a secret message.
But a large number of respondents still preferred traditional methods of communication - 74 per cent say they spin on their chairs to talk directly to the person sitting next to them.
"It seems that while we are a very confident nation on the whole when it comes to talking to colleagues face to face, we are rather hesitant about the more delicate conversations," 3M New Zealand corporate marketing manager Terry Roper said.
"Considering the size of some email inboxes, it is pleasantly surprising people still prefer to speak directly to one another in the office, that having a good old-fashioned chin wag is still the most direct way to communicate," he said.
The survey showed it paid to be careful in the office even with the most informal types of communication.
In the opinion of 35 per cent of those surveyed, communication on a Post-it Note was considered legally binding.
But 17 per cent claimed they signed documents without reading them, signing where a flag was.
"While it is encouraging for us to know people place such trust in their Post-it Notes," Mr Roper said, "we would definitely recommend seeking the counsel of a lawyer for legal documentation as opposed to drafting your pre-nuptial agreement or mortgage on a Post-it Note."
