Workforce Management Featured Article
Survey Measures Workplace Distractions
As long as people still work, they’ll always find ways to avoid actually doing their work. The Human Capital Institute (HCI) has released another version of its quarterly “Talent Pulse (News - Alert)” eBook detailing how companies can get around all of the distractions the modern workplace offers.
"While advancements in technology have made it easier than ever to connect with colleagues and customers and access needed information in seconds, these same devices and applications have also brought significant challenges to how employees do their jobs," said HCI CEO Carl Rhodes. "The latest HCI Talent Pulse research investigates just how serious the problem is and what successful organizations are doing to mitigate the impact of distractions. Equipped with this knowledge, organizations can foster workplaces that help employees focus on the task at hand, maintain their productivity and help the company achieve its goals."
HCI surveyed more than 900 people, both workers and those in management roles, on workplace distractions.
HCI identified chatting with co-workers, internal email, lack of sleep, tasks unrelated to position goals and personal Internet use as some of the top distractions. They also found younger employees were more likely to be distracted by their devices than older workers.
Despite all these distractions, the respondents found that only a few organizations actually tried to stop them. Of those that did, 74 percent reduced the frequency of meetings and 79 percent implemented “no device” policies when they had meetings.
Talent management leaders rated mindfulness skills such as being mentally present at work and focusing on the task, while being conscious of mind-wandering important, few of them attempted to train their employees on mindfulness.
Most of those surveyed thought the the responsibility to curb distractions rested with management and individual employees, with only half of them saying that it was H.R.’s responsibility.
The survey found that employees do need to distract themselves from time to time to refresh their focus. All things in moderation, perhaps including distractions.
Edited by Maurice Nagle