Workplace Distractions: Here's Why You Won't Finish This Article Flashcards
open-plan
Off-screen, in your open-plan office, crosstalk about a colleague’s preschooler might lure you away, or a co-worker may stop by your desk for a quick question.
[ADJ] An open-plan building, office, or room has no internal walls dividing it into smaller areas.
multiply [mʌltɪplaɪ]1
frazzled [|fræz əl] 1
As screens multiply and managers push frazzled workers to do more with less, companies say the problem is worsening and is affecting business.
[VERB] When something multiplies or when you multiply it, it increases greatly in number or amount.
[NOUN] [informal] the state of being frazzled or exhausted
custom-built
the modern workday seems custom-built to destroy individual focus.
[VERB] If something is custom-built, it is built according to someone’s special requirements.
insulation [ɪnsəleɪʃən] 1 3
chatter [tʃætər]1
Open-plan offices and an emphasis on collaborative work leave workers with little insulation from colleagues’ chatter.
[NOUN] Insulation is a thick layer of a substance that keeps something warm, especially a building.단열, 차단
[VERB] If you chatter, you talk quickly and continuously, usually about things which are not important.[noun]
scramble to [skræmbəl] 1
on the margins
A ceaseless tide of meetings and internal emails means that workers increasingly scramble to get their “real work” done on the margins, early in the morning or late in the evening.
[VERB] If you scramble to a different place or position, you move there in a hurried, awkward way.
*남는 자투리 시간에/주변부에
이러한 모든 것들이 계속 당신에게 오는 가운데 매일매일 일 끝내는 것이 어렵습니다(사투입니다.)
it’s a struggle “to get work done on a daily basis, with all these things coming at you”
한 번 페이스를 잃으면, 원래의 일로 돌아 가는데 23분이 소요됩니다.
Once thrown off track, it can take some 23 minutes for a worker to return to the original task.
*once thrown off track
squeeze in
heads-down
thrum[θrʌm]
his 200 employees had grown stressed trying to squeeze in more heads-down, focused work amid the daily thrum of email and meetings.
*to just manage to fit somebody/something into a short period of time
*work or study hard(get your head down)
[VERB] When something such as a machine or engine thrums, it makes a low beating sound.
obliterate [əblɪtəreɪt] 2
At meetings, attendees were often checking email, trying to multitask and in the process obliterating their focus.
[VERB] [LITERARY] If you obliterate something such as a memory, emotion, or thought, you remove it completely from your mind.
이메일은 나중해 처리해도 되는 메세지를 위해 보관됩니다.
Email was reserved for messages that could wait.
*that could wait 나중에 해도 되는
log [lɔ:g]
Workers now pick up the phone more, logging fewer internal emails and say they’ve got clarity on what’s urgent and what’s not.
[VERB] If you log an event or fact, you record it officially in writing or on a computer.
직원들은 여전히 고객이나 동료들로부터 오는 이메일을 매일매일 확인해야 합니다.
Staff still have to stay current with emails from clients or co-workers.
*stay current/up to date with 매일 매일 ~을 확인하다
institute [ɪnstɪtu:t] 1
Ms. Roberson of eBay recently instituted a no-device policy during some team meetings, a change that she says has made gatherings more efficient.
[VERB] [FORMAL] If you institute a system, rule, or course of action, you start it.
block out
So earlier this fall, managers decided to pilot a program allowing employees to block out several hours a week for heads-down work.
*to stop light or noise from coming in; to cover or hide something
frenetic [frɪnetɪk] 2
others have caught up on the work they’re unable to get to during frenetic workdays
[ADJ] If you describe an activity as frenetic, you mean that it is fast and energetic, but rather uncontrolled.
어떤 이들은 그들이 정신없이 돌아가는 일과시간에서는 착수할 수 없었던 일을 따라잡았습니다.
others have caught up on the work they’re unable to get to during frenetic workdays
*get to work
inbox
Dozens of software firms have developed products to tame worker inboxes.
[NOUN] (on a computer) a folder in a mailbox in which incoming messages are stored and displayed받은 메일함
take on
relish [relɪʃ] 1
Perhaps no company has taken on the email problem with as much relish as Atos, a global IT services company based outside of Paris, with 74,000 employees.
[VERB] to compete against, oppose, or fight
[VERB] If you relish something, you get a lot of enjoyment from it.(noun)
phase out
the company vowed to phase out internal email entirely.
[VERB] [tr, adverb] to discontinue or withdraw gradually
manifesto [mænɪfestoʊ] 1 3
Atos says it’s too early to say whether the experiment is a success, but in an anti-email manifesto posted on the company’s website
[NOUN] A manifesto is a statement published by a person or group of people, especially a political party, or a government, in which they say what their aims and policies are.
clutter [klʌtər] 1
CEO Thierry Breton compares his company’s efforts to reduce digital clutter to “measures to reduce environmental pollution after the industrial revolution.”
[NOUN] Clutter is a lot of things in an untidy state, especially things that are not useful or necessary.
사무직들만이 일에 집중하기 위해 고군분투하고 있는 것은 아닙니다.
Office workers aren’t the only ones struggling to stay on-task.
*stay on-task
프로젝트가 적을수록 더 집중도 높고 정시에 마쳐지는 결과를 창출할 수 있습니다.
Fewer projects led to better focus and more on-time results.
