The cost of chit-chat, coughs and tea rounds.....

Desk-tractions are causing UK office workers to lose 16.5 million hours every day suggests new research revealed today. Thatís the equivalent of 193 million pounds wasted each day.

Desk-tractions is a new term coined by Office Angels, the UKís leading secretarial and office support recruitment consultancy, to explain the minefield of office based distractions that cause UK workers to down tools or lose their train of thought. In fact, desk-tractions cause a third (33%) of employees to waste over an hour every day.

Love thy Neighbour

The poll of 1,292 office workers by Office Angels discovered that even though desk-tractions come in many forms, human annoyances are the greatest source of distraction in the workplace:

Almost three quarters of women (73%) cite loud and very chatty colleagues as their main desk-traction, as opposed to men who donít find the chatter as distracting (67%). Colleaguesí coughs and sneezes seemingly do more than spread diseases as nearly half (44%) state their colleaguesí spluttering puts them off their work. Pointless meetings and silly questions bother an impatient 58% of the UK workforce and a love-struck one in 10 (10%) find their mind wandering from their work to an office crush.

Technology Tribulations

Almost two thirds of workers, (61%) state that mobile phones left unattended and annoying ring tones are a distraction ñ more so than the arrival of new email (34%) or the lure of instant messenger or addictive social networking sites (27%).

Silence isnít always golden

Despite these figures 43% of employees admit they do thrive on office buzz. An honest 15% even state that they find desk-tractions a welcome relief as even small interruptions provide natural breathers throughout the working day.

Commenting on the results, David Clubb, Managing Director for Office Angels states:

ìDesk-tractions are part of office life and of course we all actually need breaks and breathers from our work throughout the day. However, itís important to be aware of how your seemingly innocent actions affect others and be considerate towards their working practices and needs.î

Top 10 office desk-tractions:

ï Loud and very chatty colleagues (71%)

ï Mobile phones left unattended (61%)

ï Pointless meetings or questions (58%)

ï Colleaguesí coughing and spluttering when theyíre ill (44%)

ï Arrival of new email (34%)

ï Smell of people eating at their desk (30%)

ï Instant Messenger (15%)

ï Social networking sites (12%)

ï Offers of a cup of tea (11%)

ï An office crush (10%)

The survey was conducted among 1,292 Office workers in October 2007