Being a little distracted at work is normal, being very distracted at work is a problem — especially if it's coming from the tools you need to get your job done.
Nearly half of all employees are distracted at least once every 30 minutes by their workplace tools, according to a research report from software company Unily, with almost a third reporting being distracted at least once every 15 minutes by a workplace notification. This means that employees working an average 8-hour day could be experiencing over 160 distractions from their workplace digital tools each week, and it could have long-term effects on productivity.
"The kind of digital tools we use day-to-day in our roles are things like email and chat messaging," says Kaz Hassan, community and industry insights lead at Unily. "It creates an interesting paradox where people understand that they need these digital tools, but they're distracting."
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Nearly six in ten employees report that digital tools add to their workplace stress, with 44% of employees saying video conferencing systems are the biggest contributors, according to Unily's findings. Thirty-nine percent blame email platforms and 36% point a finger at instant messaging applications. Managers also shoulder the biggest brunt, with over 59% reporting a digital noise distraction every 30 minutes or less, compared to 48% of all respondents.
The result is a very distracted and, consequently, less productive and effective workforce, according to Hassan.
"Your prioritization has an impact on the quality of your work," he says. "There's this idea that anytime you're switching between different apps, it takes time to orient yourself. When an employee gets a barrage of notifications, [the] distraction is having an impact on how much work they're getting done and the quality of that work."
Unfortunately, these distractions are part of what people need at work: 91% of respondents said their email was necessary for doing their jobs, 84% said the same about their company's intranet and internal communications, 83% about messaging platforms and 80% about video conferencing. Seventy-three percent of employees even agree that digital tools help workers feel more connected in the workplace. But organizations don't have to eliminate the tools to eliminate the distraction, according to Hassan; they just have to consolidate.
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"The solution that got the most support from employees was the concept of a superapp," he says. "Think of it like the Uber app. It was initially made for people to call their taxis, but you can now use it to order food and groceries and check train times. Employees need all of their tools, but organizations can weave them together into a simple and more consistent interface that brings all the applications together, rather than having to pop off into everything at different times."
As for how to get it started, investing in more AI could better support the shift to a simplified platform, Unily found. Most workers believe that AI could be the key to reducing excessive notifications and 62% said it could help them prioritize notifications in the interim. Digitization played a large role in the increase of notifications, Hassan says, but it can also play an equally large role in creating a better system.
"There's a real opportunity here to zoom out and understand how these tools can be used more effectively for their role," he says. "We have to figure out how to stitch all these things together to make flexible and remote working more sustainable, and end this culture where we always need to be 'on' and notified."
