{"id":5976,"date":"2015-11-18T10:37:12","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T10:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/?p=5976"},"modified":"2023-10-27T08:49:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T08:49:12","slug":"remote-work-distraction-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remote work can be summed up with a simple pro-con formula: gain productivity, lose collaboration.<\/p>\n

Of course, that\u2019s an oversimplification, and not applicable to all people and situations. Technology and good processes, for example, can help overcome the challenges of collaborating remotely. But the productivity gains of working from home or in another, non-office location? They\u2019re real.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, for all the focus on a loss of collaboration outside the office (a frequent objection to remote working) there\u2019s another loss inside the office that often goes unremarked\u2014<\/span>the distraction tax<\/b>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

23 Minutes Down the Drain<\/h3>\n

Gloria Mark, a professor in the department of informatics at UC Irvine, studies how our use of technology affects attention. She conducted a study of tech workers, timing them to the second throughout a few days at work to see how they behaved. In her research, Mark has found that knowledge workers change tasks, on average, <\/span>every<\/span><\/i><\/a> three<\/span><\/i><\/a> minutes<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

To that scattershot approach, add this unfortunate fact: Mark\u2019s research revealed that it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds, on average, to recover from an interruption. That\u2019s a whole lot of wasted time!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Knowledge Worker, Focus Thyself<\/h3>\n

Before you pack up your desk and head home for some uninterrupted working bliss, hold on.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the lessons from Mark\u2019s research is that not all distractions come from without. About 44 percent of our task-switching at work, she says, is self-inflicted. That means we\u2019re interrupting ourselves almost half the time.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stop the Ride, I Want to Get Off<\/h3>\n

Working remotely won\u2019t stop your co-workers from interrupting you by chat, email, or phone. And it certainly won\u2019t stop you from switching tabs to look at baseball scores, cat videos, or even just another work project. But, in light of the carnival of distraction Mark\u2019s research documented, any decrease in so-called \u201cmultitasking\u201d would seem to be sorely needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other academics, such as Nicholas Bloom, have collected data suggesting <\/span>working from home can boost productivity<\/span><\/a>. And a recent survey showed that about <\/span>three-quarters of U.S. workers split from the office<\/span><\/a> when they want to get things done.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, why not give working from home a try? Pick a day and see how it goes. If you find yourself getting more done than you expected, maybe you can add productivity to the many benefits of remote work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us know how it goes! Share your experience of going remote on Facebook<\/a>, Google+<\/a>, or Twitter<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Photo: Flickr user Steve Lyon<\/a> via Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remote work can be summed up with a simple pro-con formula: gain productivity, lose collaboration. Of course, that\u2019s an oversimplification, and not applicable to all people and situations. Technology and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wl_entities_gutenberg":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"wl_entity_type":[273],"class_list":["post-5976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mission-values","wl_entity_type-article"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction - AnswerConnect Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How much time do you spend getting back on track after an interruption? Remote work can help you focus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction - AnswerConnect Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How much time do you spend getting back on track after an interruption? Remote work can help you focus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AnswerConnect Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-18T10:37:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T08:49:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terri Phillips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Terri Phillips\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/\",\"name\":\"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction - AnswerConnect Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-18T10:37:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-27T08:49:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcac71811a86e96e4eeba04eae84d00\"},\"description\":\"How much time do you spend getting back on track after an interruption? Remote work can help you focus.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"AnswerConnect Blog\",\"description\":\"Help Grow Your Business\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcac71811a86e96e4eeba04eae84d00\",\"name\":\"Terri Phillips\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdff767c73137176cc289865683e192d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdff767c73137176cc289865683e192d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Terri Phillips\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/author\/terri\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction - AnswerConnect Blog","description":"How much time do you spend getting back on track after an interruption? Remote work can help you focus.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction - AnswerConnect Blog","og_description":"How much time do you spend getting back on track after an interruption? Remote work can help you focus.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/","og_site_name":"AnswerConnect Blog","article_published_time":"2015-11-18T10:37:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-27T08:49:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":675,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Terri Phillips","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Terri Phillips","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/","url":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/","name":"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction - AnswerConnect Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg","datePublished":"2015-11-18T10:37:12+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-27T08:49:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcac71811a86e96e4eeba04eae84d00"},"description":"How much time do you spend getting back on track after an interruption? Remote work can help you focus.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/answerconnect-blog\/1\/2015\/11\/4410122852_96469fc262_b-e1460729256347.jpg","width":675,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/mission-values\/remote-work-distraction-tax\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Remote Work Helps You Dodge Distraction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/","name":"AnswerConnect Blog","description":"Help Grow Your Business","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcac71811a86e96e4eeba04eae84d00","name":"Terri Phillips","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdff767c73137176cc289865683e192d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdff767c73137176cc289865683e192d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Terri Phillips"},"url":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/author\/terri\/"}]}},"_wl_alt_label":[],"wl:entity_url":"\/post\/remote-work-distraction-tax","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8848,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5976\/revisions\/8848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5976"},{"taxonomy":"wl_entity_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.answerconnect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wl_entity_type?post=5976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}