Talkative colleagues the most distractive influence at work

49% of Singaporeans polled said talkative colleagues most time-consuming distraction while 31% said emails and net browsing.

Talkative co-workers are the most common distraction for office workers, according to a global poll by recruitment specialists Robert Walters.

When asked their most time consuming distraction at work, almost half of those polled responded ‘talkative colleagues’, one in three said personal e-mail and internet browsing, 8 percent claimed social networking sites, 6 percent smoking breaks and 5 percent personal calls and/or text messages.

These global results were mirrored in Singapore, where 49 percent of professionals polled said talkative colleagues were the most time-consuming office distraction, 31 percent claimed personal e-mail or internet and 8 percent smoking breaks.

These trends were particularly marked in some countries – 70 percent of office workers in New Zealand, 67 percent in Hong Kong and 62 percent in Ireland said talkative colleagues were the most time consuming distraction at work. Professionals in South Africa had different concerns – 56 percent of respondents there claimed personal e-mail and internet usage was the biggest office distraction.

Andrea Ross, Managing Director of Robert Walters Singapore comments: “Although personal use of internet and e-mail is widely perceived as the most common time waster at work, our survey shows this isn’t the case. Informal conversations can fuel productivity but a lot of the time professionals are engaging in conversations with colleagues out of politeness. With most offices now being open concept, other people’s conversations can be hard to avoid. Of course, the odd chat during the day can provide a welcome break and can spark new ideas but there is a balance that needs to be struck.”