Working From Home: Those Annoying Habits!

When working from home was mandatory at the start of the Covid pandemic, a whole new world of annoyance was unleashed on workers.

But with a new future of office working and remote working set to merge, a recent survey has discovered the most annoying habits while working from home and when in the office.

Suffice to say the lists vary quite a bit, with video calls featuring prominently in the home-working top 10, while the little things when working in close quarters dominate the top 10 of office-based gripes.

The survey, conducted by Premier Inn, found the most annoying working from home habits included colleagues requesting the camera on for video calls, noticing people multi-tasking while on a video call, as well as eating on camera. The worst offence? Slow responses to emails and direct messages when you know a co-worker is online.

With 53% of the participants finding their colleagues less irritating when not sharing the same office space, the results of the in-office grievances are hardly surprising.

Instigating too much chit chat was an annoyance, as was sucking up to the boss and eating smelly food. The biggest irritation, though, was the dreaded eating too loudly!

“Though a large number of organisations have returned to working in an office environment, many of us are now adopting a hybrid approach which still includes spending time working remotely, meaning work and communication with our colleagues is still happening virtually for a lot of people,” said a Premier Inn spokesman.

“With decreased boundaries between home and work, and often many distractions to be found at home, we’ve discovered a whole host of small annoyances when it comes to working with our colleagues remotely, from slow replies to poor attention on calls.

“Giving your full attention to your colleagues during working hours (and then giving them space when not working), appears to be the best way to working effectively and harmoniously while working from home.”

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