The biggest distractions at work revealed

New research has found that contrary to popular belief, home working provides a more productive environment than office working, with remote employees less susceptible to distractions.

A survey of 1135 UK employees, made up of both home and office workers, carried out by CartridgePeople.com and published in the How to ‘Win’ at Home Working Report revealed that home workers experience three times fewer disturbances and distractions during their working day than their office-based counterparts. In fact, as many as one in three (33%) office workers admitted that they experience an average of 10 or more distractions during their working day.

The data found that cold callers were the number one distraction for home workers (56%), closely followed by deliveries (54%). 45% confessed that their partner often distracted them by trying to talk to them when working from home.

Despite this, more than a third (34%) of home workers said they were able to ignore such distractions while working from home. More than a quarter (27%) said that even with such disturbances they still felt they were more productive than when they work from the office.

Andrew Davies, spokesperson for CartridgePeople.com commented: “There is a common misconception that offices are a more productive working environment. It’s clear that distractions in the office  are a bit of an issue for many workers. Employers looking to reduce this problem could provide their workers with opportunities to occasionally work from home – particularly when working on complex projects requiring a lot of concentration; and if this isn’t an option they could create quiet spaces or breakout areas for staff to use to focus on their work, away from distractions.”