Anyone who has spent long hours at the office knows that you are bound to uncover some annoying habits about your colleagues. According to a recent survey about workplace pet peeves released by Atlanta-based staffing firm Randstad USA, gossip tops the list when it comes to employee annoyances.
Out of 1,540 U.S. employees surveyed, 60 percent revealed that their biggest pet peeve in the workplace was employees who gossiped, followed by other people's poor time management skills, at 54 percent. Colleagues who leave a mess in communal spaces rounded out the top three workplace pet peeves at 45 percent.
"As the multi-generational workplace evolves and with colleagues spending more time together, personal and professional behaviors begin to blend, affecting overall workplace culture, attitudes and experiences within an organization," Genia Spencer, managing director of operations and human resources at Randstad USA, said in a statement.
Other popular responses from employees included potent scents (42 percent), loud noises (41 percent), abuse of personal communication devices in meetings (28 percent), and misuse of email (22 percent). The survey also found that even though gossip was the most popular pet peeve among respondents, employees were more likely to ignore the issue rather than address it with the colleague or their boss.
Of the top seven pet peeves, employees were most willing to go to their boss to discuss another person's poor time management skills. But according to Spencer, leading by example rather than finger-pointing is often the best way to handle annoying colleague behaviors. "While managers impose standards for corporate culture, employees play a greater role in upholding desirable behaviors," Spencer said in a statement.
