The State of Workplace Distractions [Infographic]

Email notifications pop up. Your mother calls…again. Coworkers around you won’t stop talking. And the desire to check Instagram to see if you’ve hit 100 likes on your picture of lunch grows stronger as the day goes on. Workplace distractions are everywhere and can seriously affect employee performance. But you might be surprised by which distractions our latest study of more than 1000 U.S. employees reported as the most time-consuming.

Although social media and technology have become dominating forces in our workplace, traditional distractions have not been outpaced:

#1-Taking breaks to the kitchen/water cooler/break room (other than for lunch)

#2-Taking trips to the bathroom

#3-Participating in small talk/gossip with coworkers

And surprisingly, upper management takes the cake when it comes to who is most distracted.

-More upper management employees (10 percent) spend 30 minutes or more each workday taking trips to the water cooler or break room than lower management employees

-More upper management employees (7 percent) spend 30 minutes or more each workday taking bathroom breaks than lower management employees

-More upper management employees (7 percent) spend 30 minutes or more each workday talking to friends than lower management employees

Surprisingly, a lot of people are becoming more accepting of distractions as part of a productive workday. While 20 percent of employees reported that workplace distractions hinder workplace performance, 18 percent said workplace distractions actually enhance it.

Want to see more? Check out our survey summary to get all the details!