Are you annoying your colleagues…?

New research has found that body odour, interrupting a meeting and a messy desk are the top three annoyances for office staff.

Some 586 working Brits were surveyed by Vapourlites and asked to list the colleague habits they found most irritating. Once a list was compiled, another survey was conducted to identify where participants were asked to choose their top 10 most annoying habits.

Not surprisingly, bad smells are something that bother working Brits most, with poor body odour topping the list at 40%. The next most voted irritating colleague habit was being interrupted in a meeting at 34%, followed by a messy overflowing desk at 30%. Smelling of cigarette smoke (12%) and cooking smelly foods (10%) formed the last two irritating colleague habits.

In today’s digital age, communicating over the phone and via emails are a necessity in the office – with the average office worker receiving 36 emails each day. Missing the odd email seems understandable, but colleagues do not like it when other colleagues ignore their emails. Conversely, it was an issue with 15% of the sample when colleagues email rather than just speak to them face-to-face. However, of all communication issues, talking over someone in a meeting was the biggest gear- grinder for 34% of working Brits.

There were differences in responses between men and women. Both were irritated by bad smelling colleagues, but communicative difficulties annoyed women the most, who rated being interrupted in a meeting, poor hygiene and ignoring emails as the most irritating habits.

Men, on the other hand, are more put-off by mess, stating a messy desk as their most annoying, followed by body odour and colleagues talking loudly on the phone.