Office Pet Peeves

Warm Up

1. Do you work in an office?

2. Do you like to eat snacks?

3. How much coffee do you drink each day?
   

Reading

US Workers' Biggest Office Pet Peeves

We all have office pet peeves. Career website Zety surveyed 1,026 U.S. workers to find out what people hate about their office. People answered 56 questions about annoying office situations, saying how often each one happened and how angry it made them. Here are the most common office pet peeves.

Computer problems

According to 92% of participants, trying to get some work done on a computer that's slow or keeps having problems is annoying. 

Colleagues coming to work sick

Almost 90% of participants said they found this situation at least somewhat annoying, and 52% felt it happened often or very often. This is a common problem in the U.S.. In a 2019 survey, 90% of U.S. workers said they went to work even if they felt sick.

Colleagues coming in late or leaving early

21% of those surveyed said colleagues arriving late or leaving early really annoyed them. 52% percent said this happened often at their work.

Other common pet peeves

Other pet peeves included in the top 10 were: colleagues not washing their hands before leaving the washroom, having to go to meetings that could have been an email, printer problems, people chatting together or talking on the phone, and slow Wi-Fi.

Reading Comprehension

1. How many questions did Zety's survey include?

2. How did Zety find people's biggest pet peeves based on the survey results?

3. What percentage of participants find it annoying when colleagues come to work sick?
   

Discussion Questions

1. What are your thoughts on Zety's findings?

2. What are your biggest workplace pet peeves?

3. Is it common for people to come to work sick at your workplace?

4. How often do you experience computer or internet problems at work?

5. Are any of your colleagues often late for work? Do any of them leave early

6. How often do you have meetings at work? Are they usually useful?

7. Who do you chat with most often at work?

8. What would you say is the most enjoyable part of your job?

9. Do you know anyone who often complains about their job?

10. How has workplace changed since you started there?