The top five worst WFH habits being brought into the office

New research from Kadence has revealed the bad habits that people are noticing in their colleagues since returning to the office.

While many workers have become used to working from home over the past 21 months, the survey of 2,000 UK and US office workers suggests that some forget that they’re not at home. From not using deodorant and picking their nose, to smoking whilst working and loud knuckle cracking, people have brought a variety of less than desirable behaviours back to the office – and it’s not going unnoticed by their co-workers.

The top five bad habits that workers have noticed in their colleagues since the return to the office are:

1. Ignoring colleagues (not realising they’re being talked to)
2. Talking out loud to themselves
3. Swearing
4. Humming
5. Burping

What’s more, the research from future of work specialist Kadence revealed that the same workers confess to an almost identical list of their own bad behaviours. With this heightened sense of awareness, it comes as no surprise that some people are feeling anxious about re-engaging with their co-workers and may not immediately settle back into an office environment.

When asked what worried them most about the return to the office, respondents cited things like office etiquette around Covid, leaving pets at home and even remembering to wear a bra. However, the top five worries were:

1. What to wear every day
2. Office politics
3. The commute
4. Body image
5. Socialising

Despite this, workers are still looking forward to working with their colleagues in person again. More than half of the respondents said they would prefer to have more face-to-face meetings to cut down on the number of calls and video meetings (51%), and 40% also wanted to have the tools to find and book meeting spaces easily.

Dan Bladen, CEO and founder of Kadence offered: “The context of working from a private space at home is very different to being surrounded by co-workers in the office. There is a sense of freedom in not having to conform to social rules and norms, and given the length of time people have spent working entirely remotely, who can blame them!”