In this electronic age, it does not come as a surprise that most work disruptions are electronic. The technology company, harmon.ie commissioned a survey in March 2011. They surveyed 515 IT users working in American and global companies to better understand the impact that electronic distractions have on the workplace.

Survey results are worth spending some time pondering. The majority (57%) of work interruptions now involve either:

• using collaboration and social tools like email, social networks, text messaging and IM, or
• switching windows among applications and personal online activities such as Facebook and internet searches

In fact, 45% of employees work only 15 minutes or less without getting interrupted. Constant interruptions have created problems ranging from difficultly working/producing to missed deadlines, to poor work evaluations.

About 53% of employees waste at least one hour a day due to all types of distractions. That hour per day translates into about $10,000 of wasted productivity per person per year (assuming an average salary of $30/hour). In other words, that is more than the average U.S. driver will spend this year to own and maintain a car. That means that for businesses with 1,000 employees, the cost of employee interruptions exceeds $10 million per year. Of course, the actual cost of distraction is even higher in terms of negative impacts on work quality, and relationships with clients and co‐workers.

Always Online Isn’t Productive

‘Online compulsive disorder’ is what psychologists are calling the increasingly common addiction to web‐based activity. It is pervasive in the workplace. For example, 2 out of 3 people will tune out of face‐to‐face meetings to communicate digitally with someone else. This addiction is also taking over people’s personal lives. Case in point: the majority of people under the age of 40 stay digitally connected in bed, and 44% of people under 30 stay connected during a night out at the movies.

Two‐thirds of companies and technology users are pursuing tools and strategies to minimize digital distractions, with the hopes of restoring loss of productivity and the negative effect on work output & quality. However, about 51% of survey respondents practice reading emails in batches to minimize distractions at work. (Hey… this is what I recommend in my workshops!)

Download the complete survey results from harmon.ie.

Contact me if you are interested in our Time Management or Office Organizing workshops.

Image by rawpixel.