Corporate wellness and notification overload
A notification is a request to interrupt. Decide which requests deserve that privilege before asking employees to become better at concentrating.
The performance question
Every system is convinced that its message is worth noticing. Project software, email, chat, calendars and approval tools all make a plausible case individually. The person receiving them has only one stream of attention. The result can be a working day organised around other systems’ priorities rather than the work the employee intended to complete. Corporate wellness should therefore include a conversation about notification rules. Telling people to focus while leaving every interruption enabled is rather like asking for a quiet meeting while continuing to invite guests.
What the evidence supports
Research on attention residue indicates that switching tasks can leave attention attached to unfinished work. HSE guidance on control includes opportunities to influence how work is carried out. These support examining interruptions and local working arrangements. They do not establish a single recovery time after every alert or justify multiplying a laboratory finding by the organisation’s message count to create a productivity estimate. The frequency, context and significance of interruptions differ between roles.12
A practical approach
Ask one team to identify its interruption sources and separate urgent operational signals from ordinary updates. Review default settings together and keep a dependable route for genuinely time sensitive issues. Agree which channel carries what kind of request and when a response can reasonably be expected. Avoid simply moving all messages into a new application. Ensure employees in service or safety roles retain the alerts their work requires. Leaders should model the agreement rather than announcing quiet periods and then treating a delayed response as a lack of commitment.
How to review progress
Review completed work, missed urgent messages and the pressure employees feel to monitor multiple channels. Ask whether quieter periods are usable in practice or followed by an unmanageable queue. Check the experience of people whose role involves receiving escalations. A reduction in alerts is not a health outcome, but it can show that the team has regained some control over how work arrives. The aim is not digital silence. It is a communication system in which the right interruption is noticeable because so many unnecessary ones have been removed.
Sources and references
- Attention residue when switching between work tasks Opens in a new tab
Sophie Leroy, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2009
Original research: abstract and two experimental studies
- Management Standards: Control Opens in a new tab
Health and Safety Executive
Pace of work, initiative, breaks and consultation
Discuss your corporate wellness priorities with Isabella
If this reflects a challenge in your organisation, contact Isabella to discuss where pressure is affecting performance and what a practical next step could look like.
Email enquiries@verdevitae.com or contact Isabella directly on WhatsApp Business for the most immediate way to get in touch. Response times depend on availability.
Contact Isabella on WhatsAppExplore our corporate wellness advisory or use the free business wellbeing calculators to consider the questions you would like to discuss.