The Facts of (Office) Life

I love interesting lists of facts. If you read our monthly newsletter, you know I always include a few little fun facts about that particular month. The following facts are not only interesting, but insightful. I think this list is particularly useful for employers and managers. Note how many of the following items deal with stress. Of course stress is a fact of life and stress can be good, but too much causes high turnover, reduced productivity, increased absenteeism.

We know the holidays can be especially stressful, so this may be a good time to think of some great office stress reducers. You can start by sharing this list!

1. One percent of U.S. employers allow employees to take naps during working      hours.
2. People in the U.S. spend at least 1896 hours per year at work.
3. Women business owners employ 35% more people than all the Fortune 500 companies combined.
4. No piece of normal-size paper can be folded in half more than seven times.
5. During thinking, we only use about 35% of our brains.
6. A typist’s fingers travel 12.6 miles during an average workday.
7. More American workers (18%) call in sick on Friday than any other day of the week.
8. Tuesday has the lowest percent of absenteeism for American workers—11%.
9. Difficult focusing on the computer screen, short-term memory problems and trouble with basic math can be caused by a mere 2% drop in body water. Remember to stay hydrated during work hours.
10. Americans now spend more than 100 hours a year commuting to work.
11. More  than 50% of lost work days are stress related, keeping approximately 1 million people home from work every day.
12. The  average office worker spends 50 minutes a day looking for lost files and other items.
13. The United States has the fourth largest workforce in the world, at 154.2 million (does not include those who are unemployed).
14. Forty  percent of worker turnover is due to job stress.
15. Remember to always take notes during meetings, as the brain retains less than 5% of what is said.
16. Each person owns at least eight distinctive intelligences (Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic,  Naturalistic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Verbal-Linguistic , Logical-Mathematical, Spatial), and these are further developed whenever used at work.
17. “Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
18. Refrigerating rubber bands makes them last longer.
19. Eighty percent of jobs are gained through networking.
20. People spend one in every four and a half minutes online on social networks and blogs.

And those are the (office) facts of life!

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