So this is a quite an interesting read which looks at a comparison of home workers and office workers to see who gets the most distracted whilst in their 'workplace'.
My gut thought before reading it was that it was bound to be the home workers. You know - a little peek at Jeremy Kyle of a morning. The temptation to sort out the washing up rather than make those calls. The lure of the sofa...
However it seems that the office workers are actually far more distracted than their home based counterparts. Cold calling, deliveries and the irritations of being asked to do things by colleagues and Managers rank highly on the distraction stakes.
So I decided to put this to the test and work from home to see if I had a more or less productive day than if I had been at the office. The results surprised me!
I managed to complete way more than I would if I were in the office. Ancient tasks that were still outstanding were accomplished. Calls were made, emails sent, invoices raised and data updated. Copy was written. And with no commuting time, I had more time free to work. No pesky colleagues bothering me with computer issues.
All in all a brilliant experience.
However...
It was REALLY quiet. And I kind of missed the office banter. And I didn't have as many cups of tea as I would have liked as I had to make them all myself.
And the next day when I was back in the office again, I found that I'd just postponed queries from colleagues who had assumed I was on annual leave and therefore hadn't emailed me. Not so much of a win after all.
A survey of 1,135 UK workers, made up of both home workers and office workers, carried out by CartridgePeople.com, and published in the How to ‘Win’ at Home Working’ Report, revealed that home workers experience three times fewer disturbances and distractions during their working day than their office based counterparts. In fact, as many as 1 in 3 (33%) office based workers admitted that they experience an average of 10 or more distractions during their working day.
Read the original article here