A study by Virgin Pulse raises a critical question: Who are the 5 percent in your workplace who are never distracted at work? And how can they be replicated?
Virgin's study, Driven By Distractions: Why Employees' Focus Is Waning At Work & What You Can Do About It, says that 95 percent of 1,000 respondents said they were distracted during the workday.
More than half (52 percent) say they're distracted 1-20 percent of the time during a workday, while for 43 percent, distractions occur in the range of 21-75 percent or more of the time. And 70 percent say their health habits have a noticeable impact on their ability to focus at work.
Recommended For You
What's distracting them?
- 54 percent say it's their fellow co-workers looking to chat and socialize;
- 45 percent also cited email and text messages;
- 22 percent said personal stress like worries over relationships, family or money.
They cited two things that help them focus: 68 percent say proper sleep is the number one way to maintain focus at work, and 43 percent say taking a mid-day walk or getting some exercise helps them get and stay focused at work.
"Every day, employees are grappling with attention-stealing stress, job pressures and all of life's priorities, so in order to create a high-performing, productive workforce, it's more important than ever for employers to support their employees' well-being and help them to improve their ability to focus," said Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin Pulse. "Supporting all aspects of employees' health and well-being is a great place for companies to start and will help their people feel their best so they can hone in on their most important tasks."
But the big question that the study does not answer is this: Who are the 5 percent and how can they be replicated?
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
