Working from the office really is more distracting. Blame your coworkers

July 02, 2024

Working from the office really is more distracting. Blame your coworkers

A new survey from Insightful, a workplace software company, looks at all the reasons why we have difficulty being able to focus at work.

BY Shalene Gupta

In a world full of pinging email boxes, whizzing Slack notifications, and buzzing phones, focus is perhaps the most precious resource for employees.

Workplace analytics software company Insightful conducted a study of 1,200 employees and managers in the United States to understand the challenges of staying focused at work. The survey asked participants about the frequency and sources of distractions, the impact of digital tools, and the impact of remote work on focus.

Here are the key findings:

  • Focus is the biggest productivity challenge at work: 92% of employees said losing focus is a problem at their organization. About 80% said they can’t go a full hour without being distracted, and 11% say they are distracted every five minutes. Meanwhile, a quarter of managers say lack of focus causes employees to lose at least 25% of the workweek.
  • The office is not conducive to focus: 71% of respondents said their coworkers are the main reason they can’t focus, 62% said phone notifications, and 32% said email. Meanwhile, 54% of managers said remote work actually increased employee focus, and 40% of employees agreed.  
  • The future is not promising: 64% of managers said the biggest challenge of working with Gen Z is they lack focus, and 60% said they are on their phones too often.

“Our findings reveal that distractions—both digital and interpersonal—are widespread, significantly affecting employee performance and efficiency,” the report’s authors wrote. “The research shows that traditional offices with rigid schedules and frequent interruptions are no longer conducive to deep, focused work. Instead, flexible work arrangements, fair compensation, and support from leadership are shown to improve the employees’ ability to focus.”

Working from the office really is more distracting. Blame your coworkers

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shalene Gupta is a frequent contributor to Fast Company, covering Gen Z in the workplace, the psychology of money, and health business news. She is the coauthor of The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It (Public Affairs, 2021) with Harvard Business School professor Sandra Sucher, and is currently working on a book about severe PMS, PMDD, and PME for Flatiron 


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