Working in an open office this is actually the biggest distractor: colleagues coming over to talk. Often about things of no relevance to what we are working on.

Working in an open office this is actually the biggest distractor: colleagues coming over to talk. Often about things of no relevance to what we are working on. Other times, they could have sent me an IM or email. Instead they get up, and walk over to me. Damn dinosaurs. Then there are the people who are extremely talkative and as a bonus happen to have very shrill voices, a couple of these are seated about 30 meters from my desk, and they still distract and annoy me; wearing headphones and listening to something--anything else--is a must in an open office. I'm sure there actually are surveys/research findings that point to a positive, but most don't, as far as employee happiness and productivity goes.