Surprisingly, the major workplace distractions aren’t social media platforms

Nearly one in four workers is more distracted than in previous years – and chatty coworkers are the biggest cause.

Eighty percent of respondents in a recent survey cited talkative colleagues as their top workplace distraction; office noises (70 percent) and feeling overwhelmed by changes at work (61 percent) were the other two main concerns.

More than half of workers, 56 percent, said social media and lost productivity in the workplace didn’t exactly go hand in hand; 86 percent specifically mentioned feeling Facebook can be a major workplace distraction.

Smartphone use seems to also be taking up a sizeable amount of the workday. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they spent an hour a day looking at their phone.

Younger generations spend even more time checking their phone. More than a third of millennial and Gen Z members log in two or more hours of phone time during the workday, potentially totaling 10 hours or more of lost time in a week.

To find out what other elements may be throwing productivity off in your office, view this post from Udemy. For more tips on how to avoid distractions at work, view our blog post on preventing three of the most threatening time-busters.