In today’s workplace, technology has essentially reduced the cost of communication to zero. And while there are many benefits to more open communication, there is also a cost: We experience more interruptions during the workday. One inquiry into workplace interruptions found that the average worker experiences seven interruptions per hour and spend approximately five minutes dealing with a typical interruption.

This means that many people are spending up to three hours a day dealing with not very useful interruptions. GFOA members seem to agree—more than a quarter of respondents to a GFOA poll rated interruptions as the most annoying source of lost time at work, putting them at No. 2 on the list. (Meetings were No. 1.)

• Publication date: October 2021
• Authors: Shayne Kavanagh and Jake Kowalski