Colleagues' irritating habits put people off their work
David Woods, 20 August 2008
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The most annoying habit among UK office workers is being disrespectful to others' ideas.
According to a report from psychology experts OPP, two thirds of employees rate disrespect from work colleagues as the most annoying characteristic.
This is closely followed by mood swings, which nearly half (47%) of employees find annoying and bad personal hygiene, which 45% found distasteful.
Habits such as invading personal desk space are also a major annoyance, with 42% criticising colleagues who do it and 42% getting annoyed when others repeatedly borrow their staplers and do not return them.
Bad manners such as coughing without covering the mouth (42%) and rocking on chairs (39%) are also sources of irritation.
The most common way for staff to deal with their office irritation is to moan about it to other workers (45%); but more than a third (39%) do nothing at all even though 32% said that colleagues' bad habits had a negative effect on their productivity.
Penny Moyle, head of innovation and publishing at OPP, said: "Leaving these niggles to fester or complaining continually can result in them becoming major issues and being blown out of all proportion."
She added: "For line managers to handle these things successfully requires skill, tact and sensitivity, as well as a clear understanding of what personality types will respond best to different types of management feedback."
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