Irritating workers such as shirkers, screamers, gossipers and whiners have been named and shamed as the types of colleagues who are most likely to get our blood boiling.
A survey on office stress by Ceridian, a provider of human resource services, has been published ahead of ‘National Stress Awareness’ day on 7 November. The survey identifies a ‘top ten’ chart of the most irritating workers:
1. Shirkers. Colleagues who always find excuses to avoid work, stress out over a fifth of UK workers.
2. Screamers. Tantrums and arguments in open spaces set 11 per cent of people’s teeth on edge.
3. Gossipers. At 9 per cent, gossipers are the third most stressful type of co-worker.
4. Whiners. Colleagues’ complaining about work upset 8 per cent of their colleagues.
5. Megaphones. When they’re trying to concentrate, nothing is more guaranteed to stress out 7 per cent of UK workers than fellow colleagues talking loudly on the phone or banging their keyboards as they type.
6. Hijackers. People who hijack meetings by raising irrelevant topics wind-up 7 per cent of their colleagues.
7. Wanderers. Long coffee, tea, toilet and smoking breaks annoy 6 per cent of colleagues, leaving them feeling short-changed.
8. Slurpers. Noisy drinkers, eaters and gum chewers irritate 5 per cent of work colleagues. Included in this category are people who can’t stop clicking their pens.
9. Swearers. Workers swearing loudly upset 5 per cent of their colleagues.
10. Sneezers. Sick colleagues coming into work annoy 4 per cent of their healthy co-workers.
“Irritating habits may be funny when portrayed in sitcoms like ‘The Office,’ but in real life they’re no joke,” said Doug Sawers, managing director of Ceridian in the UK. “Employers should be on the lookout for annoying behaviours that stress out fellow workers. Stressful and disruptive behaviour can affect office morale, productivity and, as a result, the bottom line.”
Ceridian offer the following tips to combat workplace stress: set aside time for project work; revisit timelines; communicate concerns to co-workers and suggest ideas for how to improve things; set boundaries; make time to eat a healthy lunch; pay attention to posture; stretch, breathe and find perspective.
See also, this week’s Editor’s blog, for some tongue-in-cheek tips on how to stay sane and deal with our co-workers’ annoying habits.
