Adapting Workplace Design to Avoid Distractions
Spending a productive day at the office in Cape Town is something that every ambitious professional working in the Western Cape looks forward to. Yet, it seems like the conveniences of modern life are always conspiring to distract us from our all-important work goals.
Dwindling attention spans, a barrage of electronic pings and beeps, and the constant temptation of social media are just some of the distractions that keep workers from performing at their best. Not to mention the lure of the beach and the mountain at the end of each day.
Fortunately, there are innovative measures, both managerial and from a building design point of view, that can help keep teams focused and support their success.
In this article, we outline the distraction challenge facing managers around the world and suggest some strategies to mitigate wandering attention spans for better productivity.
More distracted by the year: how the world swiped its way to a lack of focus
If you’ve noticed that your team’s attention span seems to be getting shorter, along with that of your own, you’re not alone.
A recent study by Steelcase reveals that attention spans have dropped by 35% percent over the past two decades, with nothing to suggest that this trend will reverse any time soon.
A combination of digital distractions, including constant pings and updates from social media, work chat, email, and other applications, can make it almost impossible to focus on the task at hand for more than a minute.
According to a Forbes report, workers lose up to 720 hours of productivity a year to smartphones and other devices, equating to thirty days of lost focus. This can have serious implications for employees who never seem to have enough time to make a concerted effort and enter the undistracted, highly concentrated state known as deep work.
- Deep work is the ideal method for anyone hoping to focus on a difficult task for a long period of time and bring it to completion.
- With a minimum of visual and auditory distractions, focusing on any cognitive activity like creating an error-free spreadsheet or designing an app or website, becomes easier and more creative.
- This phenomenon is often observed in professional sportspeople who refer to it as being “in the zone” and effortlessly performing at a high level.
While deep work is the ultimate goal of any productive person, a host of external factors often conspire to keep us out of this condition. A study by Workamagig reveals the following top distractions for office workers:
- Smartphones: 90%
- Chatty colleagues: 50%
- The internet: 30%
- Excessive office noise: 25%
- Office gossip: 17%
- Notifications and social media: 15%
- Meetings and emails: 10%
- Boredom: 10%
- Personal problems: 9%
- Workplace changes: 7%
- Snack breaks: 5%
Now that we’ve identified the specific causes of distraction that threaten to kill productivity, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can defeat them through a combination of managerial changes and office layout.
Leading the war against distraction: what managers can do to restore focus
Taking a look at our list of top distraction sources above, it’s clear that most of them originate in the words and actions of other people. For managers, this brings up a dilemma: while teams and collaboration are essential for the success of any business, counterproductive communication is not.
It’s interesting to note that most of the sources of distraction outlined above don’t relate to strictly work or project-related information sharing.
Everyday conversations and being “forced to eavesdrop” on the personal conversations and online meetings of others are not only distracting but also not strictly necessary to carry out a productive day’s work. In fact, they can even result in office conflict.
To resolve these issues, managers can try various approaches that help to guide employees toward a less distracting way of behaving in the office without coming across as exceedingly strict. These include:
Quiet hours:
In this type of system, employees agree to keep personal conversations to a minimum during certain periods of the day to allow deep focus to occur. This may not be practical in an extremely client-facing team like a sales department, but may be highly appreciated by focused members of an accounting, programming, or communications team working on a deadline.
Silent mode requests:
Managers can request that team members put their devices on silent mode to avoid the constant action of pings and notification sounds, sending a small amount of noise through a large open-plan office.
Conducting online meetings in a designated space:
Taking Zoom calls and other types of online collaboration that involve speaking to a space where others won’t be distracted by the contents of the discussion. Clients can rest easy, knowing that nobody will overhear them. This can also drastically reduce the amount of noise in an office.
In order to implement these strategies, an office layout designed with the needs of a contemporary company is essential.
Reducing distractions through thoughtful office design
Building owners and managers play a pivotal role in reducing distractions and boosting productivity by designing office spaces with care.
Here are some practical strategies to create a focused and efficient work environment:
- Acoustic zoning. Soundproof partitions that separate noisy areas from quiet zones and acoustic panels on walls and ceilings that absorb sound, can reduce noise transmission between the various parts of your office space.
- Smart building technology. A new approach in modern buildings is a sound masking system that emits low-level background noise to cover disruptive sounds. Occupancy sensors that adjust lighting and temperature automatically can also help to create a consistent, comfortable environment for tenants.
- Natural elements. Incorporate green walls comprised of plants and large windows to reduce stress and improve focus. A calm, distraction-free workspace fosters productivity and well-being.
Lose the distractions and find the ideal productive office rental with us
A Cape Town commercial property that offers customisable office spaces with a variety of work areas to suit the needs of your team could boost productivity this year.
To find your ideal Cape Town office rental, simply contact our team of area specialists today and we‘ll take care of the rest.
