As seen in the Dayton Daily News on September 13, 2014.
One of the biggest complaints I hear when talking with people about their offices is the amount of interruptions they get throughout the day. Employees feel they would be more productive if they could cut down on these disruptions.
A study, conducted by Basex, estimated the cost of interruptions to the U.S. economy to be $588 billion a year. Aside from the inconvenience, interruptions cost companies money.
There are several things you can do right away to reduce office interruptions. You just have to starting thinking differently about your office and make a few changes.
First, start paying attention to why co-workers are interrupting you. Without telling anyone of your research experiment, keep a tally sheet for a week listing the reasons why others come into your office.
When I have clients do this exercise, they are often surprised by the results. One thing that comes up on the list frequently has to do with the items in your office that attract co-workers.
On the top of the list is your candy dish. This kind gesture on your part could be cutting into your efficiency on the job. Most people don’t just grab a piece of candy and go. They linger and make conversation. If you like to provide candy at the office, remove it from your desk area and put it in a more public location, like a break room.
In addition to candy, keep food items away from your office. The coffee machine, leftover donuts from the board meeting and holiday goodies keep people coming back for more.
Being the office hospitality person is a nice deed, but may be the reason why you have to stay past office hours to complete your work. Stop being the go-to person for lotion, hand sanitizer and other personal care products.
Personal photos and memorabilia are great conversation starters, but that’s the last thing you need if you have a looming project deadline or are trying to leave for vacation the next day.
Any eye-catching items can cause interruptions. When I was working once with a client, I noticed her co-workers stopping to talk about an award plague she had on her desk. She had ordered it for an awards banquet that was to take place later in the week. After three interruptions in a 10-minute time span, I simply turned the plaque over. The comments stopped. Until we started keeping the tally, she was unaware that something so simple could be so distracting.
Another time, while working with an administrative assistant, her manager stopped us to borrow her stapler. When he left the room I asked, “How many times does he do that?” She rolled her eyes and said, “He is constantly interrupting me for office supplies.”
Later, we shared her tally sheet with the manager. He was unaware of how many times he stopped his assistant in the middle of her tasks to request office supplies. He ordered his own supplies that day in an effort to help with her productivity.
Keeping a tally sheet and eliminating items from your office that trigger interruptions will save you time, increase your efficiency and make your work day less hectic.