Survey Finds Politics Are Distracting Us At Work

Finding it harder to pay attention at work since the election? You’re not alone.

As this article from The Atlantic reports, there’s something of a post-election distraction epidemic sweeping through U.S workplaces.

BetterWorks (a software company that helps employees track goals) recently surveyed 500 “nationally representative, full-time American workers,” and found 87 percent of them engaged with politically related social media during the day, 50 percent had seen a political chat turn into an argument at the office, and 29 percent felt less productive since the election. It’s a relatively small survey, but it underscores the distraction we feel when politics seem to be the focus of nearly all of the stories and statuses in our social feeds.

“I don’t think you can say we’re going to turn off Facebook, we’re going to turn off social media,” Kris Duggan, CEO of BetterWorks told The Atlantic, adding “it’s a tight balance between letting people have a voice and being too tight on the workforce. It’s definitely an issue leaders should be thinking about right now.”