FACTS

1. Specific workplace distractions that affect employees the most:

• Co-workers talking loudly over the phone
• Co-workers talking nearby
• Phone rings, alerts, and notifications
• Office celebrations, such as birthdays and retirement parties
• Nearby group meetings
• Children visiting your co-workers
• Team games that involve the entire office
• Family members, other than children, visiting your coworkers
• Table games, such as tennis or football
• Pets in the office
• Outside noise such as car sirens, landscaping work, or dogs barking
• Gossip
• The sound of the heating or air conditioning system
• The sound of the copy machine or printer
• The sound of coffee being made
• Cell phones
• Internet browsing
• Social media
• Emails
• Conversations with co-workers
• Meetings
• Smoke or snack breaks
• Noisy co-workers
• Sitting in a cubicle

STATS

• Workplace distractions are a large obstacle to workplace productivity — studies show that as much as 70% to 99% of office employees feel distracted, with an average employee experiencing as much as 56 disruptions per day. These studies also indicate that employees take about 2 hours in total per day to refocus their attention back to their work priorities after being distracted in the first place.
• People find the following distractions to be the most disruptive at work:
  • Mobile phone/texting: 55%
  • The Internet: 41%
  • Gossip: 39%
  • Social media: 37%
  • Co-workers dropping by: 27%
  • Smoke breaks or snack breaks: 27%
  • Email: 26%
  • Meetings: 24%
  • Noisy co-workers: 20%
  • Sitting in a cubicle: 9%