Business Professionals Primary Workday Distractions, November 2014 [CHART]

No, today’s workers can’t hear you now. Why? Listening is more difficult than ever in the new digital workplace, according to 64% of business professionals worldwide polled by Accenture in November 2014. These issues don’t just hurt employees—they can affect the overall business too, as 36% of respondents said distractions prevented them from doing their best.

Communication—or maybe too much communication—was the primary workday distraction, according to business professionals, as nearly one-third cited phone calls and three in 10 called out unscheduled meetings or unannounced visitors as the biggest distractors. Email, which workers have more control over, was less of a concern. And while respondents were focusing on a million work-related tasks during the day, outside influences weren’t attention thieves.

November 2014 research by AYTM Market Research found that many employees didn’t distract themselves with social media during the workday either. Just 8.7% of US internet users said they accessed Facebook often while at work, and 15.0% did so sometimes. Meanwhile, nearly 44% did so rarely (11.0%) or never (32.5%). Read the rest at eMarketer.