Workplace Insight: Friction frustrates your employees

Recruiting, engagement, and retention are major challenges with or without a pandemic, but efforts to provide positive employee experiences to fulfill these goals are often hampered by workplace friction. Although it is a major obstacle, there is also a surprisingly straightforward solution to eliminating this friction.

Your employees want to be productive, but throughout the day they often encounter frustrations that interrupt their workflow and peace of mind. Through our recent workplace research surveying over 1,200 credit union employees, we’ve uncovered several specific areas of friction, from disruptions and technology issues to working from home obstacles, that represent opportunities to create a more supportive and productive working environment.

The biggest source of friction? Interruptions. Throughout their day, the majority of workers spend at least some on their time on individual focused tasks, such as writing or compiling reports. A study by UC Irvine found that, on average, it takes workers 23 minutes to regain their focus on these types of tasks after being distracted. It takes a while to get in the “zone,” and once out of it, it’s difficult to recover. Yet our data shows that only 26% of credit union employees are satisfied with their access to spaces where they can focus on work in private. This represents a major source of frustration and not only reduces productivity; it can lead to overall job dissatisfaction and lower retention rates.

 

continue reading »