{
  "title": "Customer reception: the cost of switching between requests",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-le-cout-des-interruptions-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-06-28",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Serving someone at the counter while monitoring messages may look efficient. Research suggests distinguishing apparent availability from sustained attention.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Bern",
    "region": "Berne",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Joshua S."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Attention does not always follow the task switch",
      "point": "Sophie Leroy (2009, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) describes a complementary mechanism: some attention can remain attached to the previous task, particularly when it is unfinished, and impair performance on the next one."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that all interruptions should be eliminated."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence cannot promise",
      "point": "These studies measure neither satisfaction among service users in Berne nor error rates in multichannel reception."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Berne",
      "point": "Within SHR's « Accueil client » programme, a field exercise could be offered to a federal administration service, a public health organisation, a telecoms team or a precision manufacturing site in Berne: compare similar time slots with and without deferral of non-urgent internal requests."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Evans",
      "year": "2001",
      "source": "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Leroy",
      "year": "2009",
      "source": "Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 444,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-06-28-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-le-cout-des-interruptions",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-le-cout-des-interruptions-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-le-cout-des-interruptions-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-le-cout-des-interruptions-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/berne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/berne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}