Top 10 productivity killers at work

One in four American workers admitted that, during a typical workday, they will spend at least one hour a day on personal calls, emails or texts. And 21% estimate that they spend one hour or more during a typical workday searching the Internet for non-work-related information, photos, etc.

Behaviours of co-workers, meetings and other factors are also creating obstacles to maximizing performance. When asked what they consider to be the primary productivity stoppers in the workplace, employers pointed to the following:

• cellphone/texting – 50%;
• gossip – 42%;
• the Internet – 39%;
• social media – 38%;
• snack breaks or smoke breaks – 27%;
• noisy co-workers – 24%;
• meetings – 23%;
• email – 23%;
• co-workers dropping by – 23%; and
• co-workers putting calls on speaker phone (either at their desk or in an unenclosed room) – 10%.

Employers shared real-life examples of some of the more unusual things they’ve seen employees doing when they should have been busy working, such as employees blowing bubbles in sub-zero weather to see if the bubbles would freeze and break, hiding under boxes to scare people, having a wrestling match and taking selfies in the bathroom.

Nearly three in four employers have implemented some measures to mitigate productivity killers at work. Tactics include the following:

• blocking certain websites at work – 36%;
• prohibiting personal calls or personal use of cellphones – 25%;
• monitoring emails and Internet usage – 22%;
• scheduling lunch and break times – 19%;
• allowing people to telecommute – 14%;
• implementing an open space layout instead of cubicles – 13%;
• limiting meetings – 12%; and
• restricting use of speakerphones if not in an enclosed space – 11%.

There were 2,138 hiring managers and HR professionals and 3,022 workers who participated in the survey.

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