9-to-5 employees are interrupted every 2 minutes by meetings, emails and other pings, says Microsoft—how to focus

CNBC

19-05-2025

The workday is full of distractions.
In fact, during the 9-to-5, employees are interrupted every two minutes by meetings, emails and other pings, according to Microsoft's recent report 2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born.
And this "isn't taking into account if you have WhatsApp open or if you have Spotify or YouTube open," says Alexia Cambon, senior research director at Microsoft. "Those are additional signals that are probably also adding to the disruptions."
If you feel like constant distractions are getting in the way of you actually doing your job, there are methods to ensure you have dedicated quiet time to get things done. Here's what experts recommend.
There are several ways to create protected blocks of time in which to do work.
First, "determine when you're most productive," says Monster career expert Vicki Salemi. Is it "30 minutes mid-morning or right before lunch?" Figure out when it's beneficial to have those specific windows.
Then, "schedule blocks of time on your calendar and treat it like an important meeting," she says. "Don't blow it off." You can even set an alarm on your phone or computer to alert you to when it's time to buckle down uninterrupted.
Think, too, about where you'll be most productive. "Is it a quiet room at work?" says Salemi, "in your cubicle or office while listening to music?" Then, set aside your phone, close your email and turn off notifications.
And "if you're working from home," she says, "tell everyone in your household you're in an important meeting." You can create blocks of quiet time as short as 20 minutes.
When you're figuring out how to focus during the day, remember that "sometimes quiet time doesn't take place in front of a desk," says Salemi. "You might have an a-ha moment while going for a power walk," for example.
Cambon uses a similar tactic to ensure she has some focused moments. During the workday, "I have this standing 45-minute run on my diary every day that I obey religiously," she says, "not just for my mental health and for my clarity, but honestly, it's the place I get my best ideas."
Before she leaves, she lets her team know, "guys, I'm taking 45 minutes for a run, please do the same," she says. "It's important to see it role modeled up top that this is something that is permissible."
However you block off time, the point is to focus on identifying noise "throughout our day and aim to minimize it so it doesn't manage us," says Salemi.