New Research Uncovers Biggest Productivity Downfalls in the Workplace

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biggest productivity downfalls A new Cornerstone OnDemand survey has revealed that 68 percent of U.S. full-time employees are suffering from work overload, a 14 percent jump from 2013. More than half (52 percent) of employees say their work overload has worsened over the past 12 months.

While some workers are also overwhelmed by information (40 percent) and technology (27 percent), 61 percent of workers believe that work overload is most harmful to their productivity. Additionally, 26 percent of those surveyed said they feel like they can’t turn off their job outside of work hours or while on vacation.

Key survey findings include:

  • Sixty-five percent of workers think a flexible and remote work schedule would increase their productivity. The same number of respondents agree that in-person meetings could be completely replaced with the proper technology. However, only 19 percent are currently being allowed to work remotely by their employers.
  • When it comes to workplace distractions, 43 percent of employees say that impromptu visits by coworkers are the biggest productivity killer. The top work environment that employees feel fosters the most productivity is an enclosed office (37 percent), followed by partitioned cubicles (23 percent), and open desk layouts (19 percent).
  • While only 12 percent of those surveyed use wearable tech for work, a little over seven in ten (71 percent) wearable tech users say that it has helped them to be more productive. Further, 66 percent of workers would be willing to use wearable tech if it helped them do their job better; a 7 percent increase from last year.
  • Eight in ten full-time employees would be motivated to use company-provided wearable tech that allows employers to track their health and wellness data. Some would be enticed to do this in exchange for benefits such as extra 5 percent end-of-year bonuses (67 percent), reduced health insurance premiums (57 percent) or discounts to exercise programs (36 percent). In exchange, respondents would be open to receiving and extra vacation day for each month’s data (54 percent), a flexible and remote work schedule (46 percent) or a work week reduced by 5 percent (41 percent).

By Joshua Bjerke