Poor time management 'biggest workplace gripe'

Gossiping co-workers are no longer the biggest annoyance to staff in the workplace, a new survey shows.

Instead, it is people with poor time management skills who irritate their colleagues the most, staffing firm Randstad found.

Its Work Watch report revealed that poor time management is the biggest pet peeve for 43 per cent of employees.

Office gossip annoys 36 per cent of workers and 25 per cent get frustrated by messiness in communal spaces.

Eileen Habelow, senior vice-president for organisational development at Randstad, said the recession seems to have had an impact on people's workplace pet peeves.

"Whether it is budget cuts or staff layoffs, employees are being asked to do more work with fewer resources, which directly affects how they view their time in the office," she explained.

Some of the most common time management-related gripes were people abusing sick days, meetings that lack structure or run over and people who constantly miss deadlines.