There are plenty of things that can distract your employees from their work. Some issues are more serious than others so on this post we’re going to look at different distractions. By examining these issues, we can help you learn how to deal with them effectively. There’s no reason for you to let distractions in your business bring efficiency levels right down. Not when these problems can be prevented.
Gossip, Chatter, Water Cooler Talk
Many employees would argue that these things are common in all offices. In fact, they are part of what makes heading into work each day even slightly enjoyable. Being about to catch up on what’s going on makes you more than colleagues. It makes your staff a team and we completely agree with this. As long as these discussions are happening at the right time. Essentially, at lunch or on breaks. They shouldn’t be happening at the desk when staff should be working. If you think this is harsh, just remember, you’re paying for their time. That makes their time your time and you have every right to dictate how they use it.
The argument employees will give is that they can work and chat at the same time. Unfortunately, some members of staff will find constant chat more of a distraction than others. To deal with this issue, you should look into getting tech such as headsets for contact centres. These headsets are noise cancelling. Perfect if you have employees who want to get on with their work and make calls without the distraction of gossip.
Having clear, office rules will also help reduce the issue of wasted time in the office.
Facebook And Social Addiction
You’re probably just as guilty of this as anyone else. When you get in from work, what do you do? You get online and check the social feeds. Make sure that no celebrities have died, there haven’t been any missed melt downs and Angelina is still divorcing Brad. Okay, the same searches won’t be true for everyone but you will check social media. The problem is that some businesses have had trouble with employees doing this on the job. If you’re having this issue, there’s an easy solution. Put blocks on internet searches. Most offices won’t run without internet use but you can block what they can access. Facebook, Twitter and any other sites should be off limits. Unless, they are relevant to the job or industry. For instance, a lot of journalism news now comes from sources on social media.
Bullying And Bad Behaviour
Finally, there are still business owners that are not taking the possibility of office bullying seriously. What they don’t realise is that bullying doesn’t just affect the victim. It makes everyone in the office, awkward, uncomfortable and distracted. Therefore, it is in your best interest to make sure issues like this are not part of your business. You can do that by keeping strict no tolerance policies apparent for any bad behavior like this. In that way, a correctly run office isn’t that much different from school. Except hopefully, you can trust employees to be a little more responsible than children.