ReadWriteEnterprise

E-mail notifications, phone calls, text messages, instant messages and activity stream alerts and other distractions are all part of the modern workplace. It's been long known that interruptions and multi-tasking reduce worker productivity - but by how much?

According to research sponsored by Harmon.ie, a company that sells a solution for integrating Microsoft SharePoint with e-mail (coverage), distractions cost businesses $10,375 per person, per year.

We've covered recently how overwhelmed knowledge workers feel by information. A new survey reveals that c-level executives are no exception to the rule. And yet, executives are always craving more data. The survey, commissioned by Avanade (an Accenture subsidiary dedicated specifically to Microsoft technology) and conducted by Kelton Research, had 543 respondents - all c-level executives across several industries from 17 countries across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

LexisNexus recently conducted survey of white-collar workers in five countries (the United States, China, South Africa, United Kingdom and Australia) on the subject of information overload. According to the press release, the survey found most professionals have had an increase in information they must process since the economic downturn and that between 1/3 and 1/2 of all information they receive each day is irrelevant to their job. Also, 51% of workers spend half their work days managing and processing information rather than using that information to do their jobs. We asked last week about what enterprise 2.0 tools you use in your organizations. This week, we'd like to know how well those tools are working out for you.