April 17, 2008Print this page
Office distractions cost UK businesses £140 billion a year
New research out today reveals that the average British businessperson only manages to complete three hours and 50 minutes of constructive work each day with over half (51 per cent) of office time devoted to fielding unnecessary emails and phone calls.
Cadillac, the luxury car marker, asked over 1,000 UK businesspeople about their office efficiency to mark the launch of its new “Backseat Boardroom” initiative, which aims to increase constructive working by offering chauffeured Cadillac cars as mobile “think” spaces that people can use to completely escape unnecessary office distractions.
Despite working the longest hours in Europe, nearly half (44 per cent) of UK businesspeople say their most productive working occurs outside of the office on their journey into and out of work – with office distractions taking up an average of four hours 10 minutes every day.
By only using 49 per cent of the working day constructively office workers are wasting over 20 working hours a week – 960 hours a year – costing UK businesses £140 billion in lost labour costs. Worryingly, three quarters (75 per cent) of all UK businesspeople say they have suffered stress or “office rage” caused by an overload of internal distractions.
The top five office distractions are:
1. Reading and responding to unnecessary emails
2. Surfing the internet for non-work related means
3. Idle office gossip
4. Malfunctioning computers
5. Answering pointless internal phone calls
Although technology has undoubtedly improved the way people work, 71 per cent of office workers believe we have now reached a “tipping point” where people are shunning face-to-face, human communication in favour of hiding behind email communications.
Research found that 39 per cent of all office emails travel less than 100m (from sender to recipient) resulting in 82 per cent of businesspeople admitting they spend up to three hours a day reading and replying to internal communication. Indeed, over one in three (39 per cent) of office workers say they would like their boss to follow in the footsteps of John Caudwell, the multi-millionaire founder of high street retailer Phones 4-U, who in 2003 banned email throughout his company in preference of face-to-face meetings. Caudwell estimated that the ban would save workers three hours a day and at least £1 million a month in saved time.
In an effort to increase British productivity, Cadillac is loaning out a fleet of its luxury SRX cars for use as mobile “think” spaces that can be used as meeting rooms or just quiet contemplation spaces.
Steve Catlin of Cadillac comments:
“In today’s business world, time is probably the most precious commodity and being caught up in unnecessary internal communication, which takes hours to deal with, is a frustrating distraction. We know that the inertia of travelling helps stimulate creative thinking so by offering businesspeople the opportunity to get away from their desks and into a luxury mobile meeting room we’re hoping we can help increase their productivity.”
gmeurope
New research out today reveals that the average British businessperson only manages to complete three hours and 50 minutes of constructive work each day with over half (51 per cent) of office time devoted to fielding unnecessary emails and phone calls.
Cadillac, the luxury car marker, asked over 1,000 UK businesspeople about their office efficiency to mark the launch of its new “Backseat Boardroom” initiative, which aims to increase constructive working by offering chauffeured Cadillac cars as mobile “think” spaces that people can use to completely escape unnecessary office distractions.
Despite working the longest hours in Europe, nearly half (44 per cent) of UK businesspeople say their most productive working occurs outside of the office on their journey into and out of work – with office distractions taking up an average of four hours 10 minutes every day.
By only using 49 per cent of the working day constructively office workers are wasting over 20 working hours a week – 960 hours a year – costing UK businesses £140 billion in lost labour costs. Worryingly, three quarters (75 per cent) of all UK businesspeople say they have suffered stress or “office rage” caused by an overload of internal distractions.
The top five office distractions are:
1. Reading and responding to unnecessary emails
2. Surfing the internet for non-work related means
3. Idle office gossip
4. Malfunctioning computers
5. Answering pointless internal phone calls
Although technology has undoubtedly improved the way people work, 71 per cent of office workers believe we have now reached a “tipping point” where people are shunning face-to-face, human communication in favour of hiding behind email communications.
Research found that 39 per cent of all office emails travel less than 100m (from sender to recipient) resulting in 82 per cent of businesspeople admitting they spend up to three hours a day reading and replying to internal communication. Indeed, over one in three (39 per cent) of office workers say they would like their boss to follow in the footsteps of John Caudwell, the multi-millionaire founder of high street retailer Phones 4-U, who in 2003 banned email throughout his company in preference of face-to-face meetings. Caudwell estimated that the ban would save workers three hours a day and at least £1 million a month in saved time.
In an effort to increase British productivity, Cadillac is loaning out a fleet of its luxury SRX cars for use as mobile “think” spaces that can be used as meeting rooms or just quiet contemplation spaces.
Steve Catlin of Cadillac comments:
“In today’s business world, time is probably the most precious commodity and being caught up in unnecessary internal communication, which takes hours to deal with, is a frustrating distraction. We know that the inertia of travelling helps stimulate creative thinking so by offering businesspeople the opportunity to get away from their desks and into a luxury mobile meeting room we’re hoping we can help increase their productivity.”
gmeurope
Being an advocate of the sloga n "let's get out of oil as soo n as possible", I see those pr ogresses as encouraging. [...]