Top 10 Habits Your Co-workers Hate

18th December 2019

Your work environment and the people you work with can make all the difference to how productive you are on a day to day basis. And as the year draws to a close it's a great time to reflect on what habits and characteristics of behaviour we want to carry into the new year. Chewsygum.com decided to conduct a survey asking 1,782 people about their colleague's worst habits in the workplace!

Loud / open mouth chewing 70%

Being a source of strong smells (food, B.O, too much cologne / perfume) 68%

Coughing / sneezing / sniffling 48%

Rhythmic tapping 43%

Loud music 42%

Having a messy desk space 36%

Loud breathing 32%

Cutlery clinking 27%

Loud typing 26%

Being antisocial 16%

Habits Brits want to leave behind in 2019:

Loud / open mouth chewing came in first place with 70% of people saying that this is the thing that they hate their co-worker doing the most.

Having a messy desk is something 36% of participants dislike, although it wasn't what they found most annoying. However, 65% of participants said that when their co-worker has a messy desk it distracts them. 42% said they hate it when their co-worker plays their music too loud but only 1 in 4 ask them to turn it down, 48% said they play their own music to drown it out, whilst 27% just ignore it.

"Strong smells" irritate 68% of British workers the most. This covered everything from bringing in smelly foods, having body odour and wearing too much perfume / cologne. The two foods that participants hate smelling the most were fish and eggs.

Interestingly, only 16% dislike it when the person they are working with doesn't make attempts to be social. However, Chewsygum.com fond that a whopping 74% of participants believe their co-worker should be social.

Survey questions and answers:

What foods do you hate the smell of most?

Top 3 Foods Listed

Fish

Egg

Soup

Do you believe people should be social at work?

Yes 74%

No 26%

Does the state of the workspace of the person next to you affect you?

Yes 65%

No 35%

When your colleague’s music is loud do you:

Tell them to turn it down 25%

Play your own music to drown it out 48%

Ignore it 27%

Which of these do you hate hearing most:

Coughing 21%

Sneezing 16%

Sniffling 64%