If you work in an office setting, it's common:you're in the middle of a project and a coworker comes over to ask for help with a task or to share a picture of her new puppy. If this happens, don't sigh when distracted. A new study finds that these interruptions benefit a sense of belonging and can counteract negatives such as loss of productivity.
According to the study, which took place primarily at the University of Cincinnati, there were drawbacks to job interruptions, such as increasing stress levels and decreasing people's energy, as well:Employees felt more like they were "on the job." heard' and that ultimately led to more job satisfaction.
“If the past year of social distancing and isolation has shown us anything, it's that humans are social beings who have an inherent need to interact with others,” said study lead author Harshad Puranik.
In the study, the team surveyed 111 full-time employees twice a day for three weeks. They asked participants about their experience at work (since the start of the day for lunchtime surveys and since lunchtime for end-of-work surveys), including work interruptions, how mentally exhausted they felt, their sense of belonging and overall job satisfaction. The researchers found that while work stoppages can negatively impact the mental resources of interrupted employees, reducing job satisfaction, social interaction with a disruptor can also help increase workers' levels of belonging, which has been associated with increased job satisfaction.
What previous research has failed to consider, Puranik says, is that work stoppages by others, beyond their task-based aspect, also involve a social component—the social interaction with the interrupter. “Our study revealed that by providing this opportunity for social interaction with your colleagues, work stoppages led to a greater sense of belonging. This sense of belonging in turn led to higher job satisfaction.”
“We find that interruptions can help individuals from an interpersonal perspective – people feel like they belong when others come to talk to them or ask them questions, even if they are distracted from their tasks,” says Vough.
What was surprising, says Vough, is that “the sense of belonging mitigated the negative effect of interruptions on job satisfaction. So interruptions at work may have gotten a bad reputation for not taking into account their human element.”
Since management has traditionally focused on ways to eliminate work stoppages, the study suggests alternatives to deal with interruptions, such as giving employees more leeway in choosing when and where they work and how they plan their work.
