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Annoying colleagues push others into seeking new employment

UK office workers find colleague lateness to be most annoying habit, a new study finds, although only a third are prepared to do anything about it. Worryingly, just over 40% of respondents said that the annoyance made them consider leaving their jobs – with a striking 5% having actually followed through with such a decision.

Colleagues who whine all the time were found to be the second most annoying thing in the nation’s offices, the study by Viking reveals.

Misspent time was a key theme amongst the top five habits on the list of twenty, with excessive smoking breaks and deliberate procrastination taking top positions.

Colleagues that eat smelly food in the office were also a major annoyance, suggesting that not everyone is impressed by fragrant packed lunches.

Only a third of respondents were prepared to try and solve the problem, with a further 30% saying they haven’t approached the problem in order to avoid conflict.

The majority did not consider leaving their jobs to be an appropriate response however, with 51% stating they “didn’t think it was that much of a problem”.

Interestingly, women are more likely to be riled up by an empty toilet roll holder, whereas men ranked office gossip as a top bad habit. When it comes to confrontation, women are more likely to keep quiet to keep the peace.

Ruud Linders, Marketing Manager Europe at Viking, said:

“Close knit environments such as offices can be a hotbed for behavioural differences, and when you throw some of those against differing personalities you can end up with irritated colleagues. I think the key to a happy office is striking a balance between feeling comfortable and tolerating some people’s behaviour – however questionable”.

UK Top 20 Annoying Habits

1. Being regularly late
2. Whining all the time
3. Eating stinking food
4. Taking lots of cigarette breaks
5. Deliberately taking a long time to do something/constant procrastination
6. Not replacing things that run out (e.g. printer paper, coffee)
7. Talking on the phone too loudly
8. Having bad hygiene (coffee breath, BO, visibly dirty clothes)
9. Gossiping
10. Spraying deodorants, aftershaves and perfumes at desk
11. Coming to work when very ill
12. Texting/using mobile phone all day
13. Having an untidy desk
14. Talking too much about private life
15. Invading personal space
16. Not making a tea round
17. Humming/whistling/singing
18. Constantly tapping/clicking pens/typing too loud
19. Stealing other people’s food/lunch
20. Using jargon

Data Source: http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/specialLinks.do?&ID=blog_uk_article_its-official-the-most-annoying-office-habits

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Karl Young .