Working hard or hardly working? U.S. employers are battling a distracted workforce. According to new CareerBuilder research, over half of employers (53 percent) think their company loses one to two hours a day in productivity because employees are distracted. A quarter of employers think they lose three to four hours (that’s almost half a work day!)
What Are the Forces Distracting U.S. Workers?
When asked to name the biggest productivity killers in the office, employers cited the following:
- Cellphone/texting: 49 percent
- The Internet: 38 percent
- Social media: 37 percent
- Gossip: 35 percent
- Email: 29 percent
- Co-workers dropping by: 24 percent
- Smoke breaks or snack breaks: 25 percent
- Meetings: 23 percent
- Noisy co-workers: 19 percent
Employers say these distractions have had numerous negative consequences on their organization, including compromising the quality of work (42 percent), lower morale because other workers have to pick up the slack (31 percent), missed deadlines (30 percent), negative impact on boss/employee relationship (28 percent), and a loss in revenue (29 percent).
What Does This Mean for You?
Learn from other employers that are stepping up to mitigate productivity killers. When surveyed, HR managers say the top ways they combat a distracted workforce are to:
- Block certain Internet sites at work (42 percent)
- Schedule lunch and break times (30 percent)
- Prohibit personal calls, use of cellphones (28 percent)
- Monitor emails and Internet usage (22 percent)
- Limit meetings (17 percent)
Want more insight? Check out “What are Workers Wasting Time On? Top 10 Productivity Killers”
