Naturally you want your employees to focus on what they need to do…and naturally any worker can get distracted. In fact, Professor Gloria Marks of UC-Irvine found that employees only get three minutes of focus before an interruption (self or otherwise). But take a good look at your own place of work: Do you see any of the following common factors that increase distraction and, in turn, decrease productivity? If so, you may want to make some changes to help your employees focus on the tasks at hand.

• Constant emails. When email first became part of the regular office routine, it allowed employees to contact each other anytime, anywhere. It’s still incredibly helpful…but companies’ reliance on it has become a huge distraction in some cases. You may know the feeling: First thing in the morning you turn on your computer and discover 72 (or more) unread emails that you have to deal with. And many of them may come from inside the office. Some companies have even gone so far as to do away with the internal email, having employees again rely on phone calls or actually having face-to-face conversations to cut down on the constant interruption of email.

• Co-worker interruption. Whether it involves distraction from an open-office plan or the frequent knocking on the door to have a fifteen-minute conversation about a question “that’ll just take a quick sec,” employees cannot get a rhythm going if constantly interrupted. So while that previous idea of phone calls and knocking really can help with technological distraction, frequent noise around the office can obviously cut down on productivity. Encourage employees to use headphones to block out noise or put up signs that ask others to leave them alone for an hour. You may also want to consider designating rooms either for quiet work or for group projects so discussion doesn’t distract others. 

• Social media. We’ve all fallen victim to it at one time or another…just reading one article or checking Facebook for five minutes suddenly turns into a 45-minute detour. You may have to create a policy for using social media during the workday by blocking certain sites or monitoring internet use if it’s become a real problem in your office. It may seem frustrating to employees, but if they have trouble self-policing, you may need to step in. 

• Not enough breaks. This may seem entirely counterintuitive, but it’s incredibly helpful for productivity to encourage employees to take regular and scheduled breaks. This gives them a chance to step completely away from work, reenergize and be ready to work when they come back.

Look around your office. If you see distracted workers, find the source and do what you can to help (not punish). For advice on how to improve worker productivity, reach out to the experienced staffing team at PrideStaff LA Culver City.