One in four distracted by office noise, as WFH guidance ends

After almost 18 months at home, UK workers are gearing up to return to the office as the government advice to work from home comes to an end. And while Netflix and the kitchen won’t be there to distract us anymore, offices are still filled with potential productivity sappers. But what exactly distracts the office workers of the UK the most? And what should bosses be on the lookout for as we get back to the 9-to-5?

Office refurbishment experts, Diamond Interiors, wanted to find out. They conducted a survey asking more than 1500 people what their biggest workplace distraction was, and here’s what the results had to say…

• Office noise was found to be the biggest distractor, with just over a quarter of people (26%) blaming a busy or noisy office. After more than a year of working at home alone, readjusting back to a crowded office is bound to be tough!
• The ever-alluring pull of social media took 2nd place, with 22% saying their scrolling addiction ate into their work time
• Social time with colleagues has been at an all time low recently, but don’t indulge too much! 15% of people surveyed said their biggest distraction was gossiping with their co-workers
• Coming in closely behind at 14% was non-work related chat with colleagues, such as TV shows
• 11% of people said it was nothing to do with other people, but rather by dealing with personal issues
• And finally, 10% of people said their vice was snacks and brew runs to the kitchen. Do we make these trips too often?