From The Straits Times
By Jonathan Kwok
Published 23 Aug 2010
IF YOU find it hard to concentrate because the guy in the next cubicle just cannot stop going on and on about his private life, don't fret, you are not alone.
Recruitment consultancy Robert Walters has found that talkative co-workers are the most disruptive ones in an office - almost half of the respondents in its survey said such colleagues wasted most of their time.
Chatterboxes even ranked higher than other distractions such as personal calls, text messages, e-mail messages or the Internet, according to the survey conducted here and overseas recently.
'Although personal use of the Internet and e-mail is widely perceived as the most common time-waster at work, our survey shows this isn't the case,' said Ms Andrea Ross, managing director of Robert Walters Singapore.
'Informal conversations can fuel productivity, but much of the time, professionals are engaging in conversations with colleagues out of politeness.'
Ms Ross added that with most offices now having 'open concept' layouts, the conversations of others can be hard to avoid.
About 49 per cent of the respondents from Singapore said garrulous colleagues were their most time-consuming distraction.
Next came personal e-mail and Internet browsing (31 per cent) and smoking breaks (8 per cent). About 7 per cent listed personal calls and text messages, while the remaining 5 per cent cited social networking websites.
A total of 1,090 professionals from Singapore were polled in the online survey conducted through the course of last month. Robert Walters said the respondents held different job functions across a wide range of industries.
One public service employee who wanted to be known only as Mr Chew agreed that chatterbox colleagues were the greatest distraction, noting: 'My office has many people who are talkative and who like to gossip.
'When people are talking in front of you - especially about other colleagues or the boss - you naturally want to listen.'
Mr Chew said he was not distracted from his work by the Internet and he rarely went to personal or social networking websites during office hours.
'I use the Internet to find information for my work,' he said.
Another Singapore worker said her deskbound job often left her bored and in need of greater human interaction. This has prompted her to join online chats with friends, which have become her most time-consuming distraction.
'Personal e-mails, texts and calls are the second most time-consuming distraction for me at work,' said the office executive in the social services sector, who declined to be named.
Of the office workers in the 17 other places polled, those in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Ireland noted similar problems with loquacious colleagues. Professionals in South Africa claimed that personal e-mails and Internet usage were the greatest office distraction.
Whatever distracts people at work, the effects on productivity - the latest buzzword in the Singapore economy - cannot be understated.
British newspaper The Times reported in April that, according to one piece of research, it takes 25 minutes for a worker to regain focus on a task after being interrupted by a conversation, phone call or e-mail.
Apparently, office workers are distracted up to 20 times a day, said The Times.
It added that about 35 to 40 per cent of time spent at work by employees in the United States and Britain is unproductive, resulting in billions of dollars in lost output a year.
While Singapore would do well to heed these figures, human resource consultants say a noisy workplace is not always as bad as it is made out to be.
'I wouldn't say that being talkative definitely decreases productivity. It depends on a number of factors, including the culture, size and mission of the company,' said Mr Kevin Ong, Towers Watson's director of executive compensation for South-east Asia.
'If the work you do is individual-based and requires your undivided attention, then talking would be distracting,' he added. 'But if the work flows across groups of employees, regular conversations with some occasional chatter thrown in would help promote understanding between these employees.'
He noted that if people talked to one another at work regularly, even casual chatter could enhance the esprit de corps of the company.
Ms Ross of Robert Walters agreed that some talking in the office could be beneficial. 'Of course, the odd chat during the day can provide a welcome break and can spark new ideas, but there is a balance that needs to be struck.'
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