Author Warns Work Interruptions Can Increase Summertime Office Stress
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- According to Jonathan Spira, thirty seconds of "hey, take a look at this" can mean over a minute and a half of "where was I?"
Spira, author the book "Overload: How Too Much Information Is Hazardous To Your Organization," says a little empathy goes a long way in the summer. He recommends a "less is more" approach to emails, phone calls, tweets and Facebook messages, citing research that shows recovery time from interruptions at work, the amount of time it takes to return to a previous task, can be 10 times the length of the interruption.
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"We have endless ways of interrupting our colleagues," he said. "The recovery time typically is 10 to 20 times the duration of the interruption."
Reducing the length and copies of emails and in short developing a "little empathy for how people work" can help, and is probably something workers and bosses should consider long beyond summer vacation season.
Spira said we utilize a fraction of tech tools. Auto reply on emails and silencing Facebook alerts on smartphones could help workers handle the burden and keep focused.
Do tweets, Facebook messages and emails keep you distracted at work? Sound off in our comments section below…
