One word : lintroller
Or double sided sticky tape on an empty toilet roll.
But, the cost of resistors and caps is so low, that, if you even stop a fraction of a second to look down and think' damn, where did it go', you just doubled your loss (cost of the compinent + cost of the time looking down and thinking 'where did it go')
If you actually put the soldering iron away to get down on the floor and start looking the cost explodes exponentially !
The same is true for : i took. A few caps out of the trays, populated the board and there is 3 still on the bench. Im gonna put em back .
There is the cost of putting em back,
And the cost of potentially putting the wrong value in , mixim them and spending hours figuering out a few months later why something doesnt work right....
We have a policy at work: any part dropped or left over on a bench after you are done gets left behind. Take the rules and sweep em off the bench. The cleaning people that come at night sweep everything away.