The modern Florida office is filled with distractions, and that’s to say nothing about the everyday user’s life. With so many devices and notifications interrupting focus for users all over the world, it’s more important than ever before to have a strategy for how to deal with these issues and become and stay as productive as possible in the workplace. Today, we’ll be discussing some of the biggest distractions for productivity in the workplace and how your employees can overcome them.

Staying Productive At The Office

The Reality
The modern workplace is a shifting environment, from increased remote work to collaboration changes with the pandemic. If businesses don’t adapt to the changes, they could potentially be left behind by the times, or worse, subject to countless distractions that are a result of this shifting environment. Some of these issues are created by the employer using open-office environments designed to reduce the costs of housing employees in the workplace. While this achieves the desired goal, the result is often less productivity due to the constant distractions that plague the open office. Employees could find themselves more stressed out and less motivated – not the ideal situation for anyone working for your business.

A Udemy poll shows that 66% of respondents believed there are too many distractions at work. This can be a major factor in lowering productivity, especially since the majority report being distracted by noise levels and an overcrowded office space or even technology they don’t understand well enough – but it’s important to keep this insight from your employees’ perspective! Asking them about what makes things difficult for him/her might help you see things through their eyes so as best accommodate all input needs while still maintaining focus on key projects within each department.

Staying Social

Even workers that enjoy working frequently with others are finding that there are still ample opportunities to be distracted. Employees have near-constant access to social accounts thanks to your business’ Wi-Fi connection, meaning that you’ll need a content filter and mobile device policy in place to limit how much your employees can access these time-wasting accounts. It’s likely that employees will, more likely than not, see this as a detriment to their personal agenda and not as a benefit to your business or their productivity. 

Distracted Staff
Even the smallest distraction can influence productivity for an extended period. Some users can take up to a half-hour or so to refocus on a task. Think about if this happens to your employees more than once a day! One example of a situation that an employee could consider a distraction is a staff meeting. While they are necessary, they themselves are often full of distractions. If employees suffer from productivity breaks, they might overstress themselves into overproducing to compensate for the time lost. This leads to a lower quality of work performed as a whole. According to Udemy, 34 percent of workers found they like their jobs less when they are distracted, while 22 percent found that this also kept them from professional advancement.

Strategies for Improvement
To create a culture of productivity, you must create what’s called a learning culture. This is done by providing training to your employees on how to manage their distractions, so they influence productivity as minimally as possible. If employees know how to deal with distractions, they will be more likely to avoid them throughout the workday, and therefore, will stay productive. Some of the most common distractions can be addressed in the following manner:

• Too much noise: If the office is a little too noisy for your liking, put on headphones. Even if you’re not listening to any music, it’s likely you’ll be distracted less, as people are generally more considerate about bothering others with headphones on.
• Smartphone access: In recent years, the smartphone has become like your house keys; you don’t leave your house without it. These device is designed around you, and as such, it can be a considerable distraction. By turning off notifications and keeping your phone out of sight, you’ll be more likely to focus on what needs to be done.
• Coworker interactions: While it’s important to develop a good rapport and relations with your coworkers, too much chit-chat can be distracting. Be sure to develop strong signals that you can give them if you’d rather not have a conversation sometimes.
• Hunger: While the lunch break is certainly a thing, some people need a little extra boost to make it through the morning. If a productivity session is interrupted by your growling stomach, just munch on something small to get you through the next few hours.

If technology is getting in the way of your employees’ being able to stay productive, we have a solution for you. We offer lots of technology solutions for Tampa businesses that can help all departments and aspects of business become more efficient. To find out more about our top Tampa IT Services, give Symmetric IT Group a call at (813) 749-0895.