Annoying Colleagues Hamper Workplace Productivity - TimesJobs.com Survey

NEW DELHI, July 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Cultural Mismatch Plagues Almost 60% Employees, who Feel Intrusive Co-workers Interrupting Their Work, are the Biggest Drain on Their Performance and Productivity

Together everyone achieves more - that's a TEAM. While camaraderie and bonhomie among office colleagues can be wonderful, however many feel that their colleagues are exceedingly annoying too. TimeJobs.com surveyed over 1,400 working professionals to find out what co-worker habits appeared to annoy them the most. The significant majority (60%) state that insensitive co-workers were to be blamed for a decrease in their personal productivity.

In addition, 42% of employees say middle-level employees are the most annoying set of co-workers, as compared to senior and junior co-workers and most feel male co-workers are more annoying than female co-workers.

"For candidates, fitting into the work culture of an organization is critical for success. TimesJobs encourage candidates to review all aspects such as organizational culture, work-life balance and growth prospects that are critical to professional success with its extensive repository of company reviews and ratings."

"And employers too must hire attitude and train for skill. Progressive organizations use TimesJobs' innovative proficiency graphs to look beyond a candidate's basic qualifications and evaluate their communication, analytical, creative, planning, organizing, leadership and interpersonal abilities, to ensure a good fit," says Nilanjan Roy, Head of Strategy, Times Business Solutions.

Showing a clear cultural mismatch, nearly 40% of the professionals who responded to the TimesJobs survey further state that colleagues who tend to barge into their private space and interrupt them are the most annoying kind.

The other annoying kind of colleagues, according to 30% respondents, are eternal cribbers, who tend to complain about everything.

The next are social media pokers, who react, comment and poke co-workers on social media, say 24% respondents.

Another 22% respondents say that chatterboxes - colleagues who talk a lot and loudly - are the most-annoying type.

Also, nearly 60% respondents blamed the behavior of co-workers for hampering their workplace productivity. Nearly 75% of them said that in a day, co-workers tend to interrupt them for over an hour, taking a big toll on their productivity.

In terms of gender, 52% respondents state their male colleagues tend to annoy more than female co-workers. Interestingly, 62% male workers say male colleagues annoy the most while 56% female workers state female colleagues annoy them most, reveals the survey.

The annoying aspects of male professionals, according to the respondents, is poking co-workers on social media and being chatterboxes. Among female workers, the most annoying habits, according to the respondents, was invading into co-workers' privacy and cribbing.

In terms of seniority and experience, middle-level employees were seen as most annoying set of co-workers by nearly 42% respondents. But 39% said senior-level employees were most annoying and 19% said junior-level employees were most irksome.

Respondents also suggested solutions to avoid annoying colleagues. The ideal solutions, according to their responses, are:

- Keeping conversations to the minimum to avoid annoying colleagues (35% respondents)

- Avoiding/ignoring annoying co-workers (30% respondents)

- Being upfront and telling colleagues they are being annoying (25% respondents)

This study clearly reveals that it is essential for optimum productivity that both companies and candidates evaluate each other not just based on the person-job fit, but equally on the person-culture fit. TimesJobs' proficiency graphs and company reviews and ratings help corporates and candidates make smarter professional decisions by ascertaining the fit between the attitude of the candidate and the company culture, well before they actually accept the coveted offer letter.

About TimesJobs.com: 

TimesJobs.com, a flagship business of Times Business Solutions (TBS), is a platform to help competent professionals make smarter career decisions. With over 25 million registered jobseekers across the board and more than 60 million page views every month, it is fast becoming the most preferred career portal among the candidates.

TimesJobs is leading in the recruitment and employment space with its pioneering and dynamic divisions because it successfully meets all the needs of the jobseekers. Its major platforms include:

• TechGig: India's biggest dais for tech professionals to help them learn, showcase and compete in the IT industry.
• JobBuzz: A well-known portal that provides information and insights about different companies, job profiles and interview processes. 
• StepAhead: StepAhead offers professional resume writing and distribution services, career astrology, and resume improvement to help jobseekers accelerate their career.

Also, TimesJobs has the largest collection of jobs in the market, which ensures that whenever and wherever there is a great opportunity, jobseekers will discover it on the platform.

In the recruitment market as well, being the biggest platform for competent professionals who think of their careers first, TimesJobs has become the destination of choice for recruiters who seek to engage with the right talent.

Media Contact
Aseem Seth 
Head of Corporate Communications 
Times Business Solutions - A Division of Times Internet Ltd. 
Email: [email protected]
Twitter handle: @aseems 
Tel: +91-120-663-6338, +91- 9910 273367