When most of us were children, we probably didn’t dream about having a solid block of 8, 4, or even 2 hours to sit down and really focus on some work. But in today’s modern workplace, such uninterrupted work time truly is a luxury for many people.
Try as we might to grind out some focused work time, coworkers, superiors, and subordinates pop in to ask a question; the phone rings; an urgent e-mail pops up, etc.
Most people who experience seemingly constant interruptions at work can appreciate the fact that these interruptions are, at a minimum, annoying. But they are also significant drains on productivity. An hour spent working on a project focused and without interruption is always going to be more productive than that same hour spread throughout the day broken up in 5- or 10-minute blocks separated by interruptions.
That lost productivity translates to real money.
The High Cost of Interruptions
“According to Basex research, interruptions cost the U.S. economy $588 billion a year. If you’re tolerating the interruption culture at your company, you are jeopardizing your profits,” says Edward G. Brown in an article for Fast Company.
“Further research by a workplace training company found that when employees are asked to formally calculate the time they lose to interruptions, they routinely come up with 40%–60% of their most productive time; that’s about 3–5 hours every day,” Brown adds.
Additionally, we shouldn’t ignore that such interruptions are annoying, as noted above. That annoyance can turn into real stress and morale problems at work, leading to further losses in productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.
A Two-Part Impact on Productivity
“First, there is the diversion itself, taking your employees off task after they have assembled the resources and thinking necessary for that particular task,” says Brown. “Then there is the restart—reassembling the resources, thoughts, and readiness. There is the loss of momentum caused by the initial distraction from the original purpose. There is growing frustration from having to rebuild those pathways, which dissipates the energy and enthusiasm that work thrives on.”
Interruptions at work might seem like a necessary evil in a modern, fast-paced work environment. But organizations don’t need to accept them as an inevitability. In a follow-up post, we’ll discuss some strategies for minimizing interruptions in the workplace and their negative impacts on employee morale and the bottom line.