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October 30, 2009 By

Open office distractions

In this precarious economy, time has never been more important. You need your employees to give their best every minute of every hour of the work day. However, due to the open office environment, many employees (yours included) find their attention focused on what’s going on in the office rather than on their desks. Whether it’s water cooler gossip, whirring machines, slamming doors, dinging elevators, or loud accessories, work just isn’t at the center of attention.

How can you return work to its rightful place?

Most people are familiar with white noise- the idea of blocking out unwanted noise (crying babies, barking dogs, honking cars, etc.) with a soothing, consistent hum. What you may not know is that there is a corporate solution to unwanted distractions: sound masking. The idea is the same, just much more precise and peaceful. Our direct-field technology delivers uniform engineered sound to each treated area in order to create a work environment conducive to focused work. Plus, once installed, you will not need to allow for maintenance costs. For more information on how to increase your productivity, contact us here.

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: , , , ,
October 27, 2009 By

The sounds heard round the office

Whether intentionally or not, the average employee spends more than two hours of her work day distracted.  She starts a task and hears a phone ring.  She wonders who it is and whether it is a personal call.  She refocuses, only to hear the elevator ding.  She tries again and hears the copier start, so she leaves her desk to chat with her co-worker making copies.  Regardless of good intentions, this employee doesn’t stand a chance of being productive for more than a few minutes at a time.

Business must go on

We are in the worst recession in decades, yet deadlines and quotas must be met- all with less resources than you’ve ever had.  Getting work done with fewer staff in the same eight-hour day seems impossible.  Fortunately it isn’t.  Many companies like yours have turned to sound masking as a solution for office distractions.  Similar to the concept of white noise, treated areas are immune to the noisy interruptions that every open office inevitably has.  And, with direct-field technology, our system is precise and uniform, resulting in a quieter and more productive work environment for your employees. 

When resources are scarce, turn to a solution that is precise and no-maintenance.

Malachowski, Dan.  Wasting Time at Work Costing Companies Billions.  Retrieved August 10, 2009, from http://www.davidsonstaffing.com/articles/salary/wasted-time/.

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October 21, 2009 By

Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden

If the average worker is distracted, it usually takes almost half an hour to get back to his work or task.  At least there aren’t that many distractions, right?  Wrong.  Today’s employees feel frazzled by how often they are interrupted by co-workers’ conversations, phone calls, machinery noise, and slamming doors.  In fact, the average worker loses more than two hours of his work day as a result of such unwanted distractions. 

Sound masking is the new “silence” 

It’s not that your employees actually need silence even.  Rather it’s that they need a work environment conducive to concentration and cohesive thought.   Sound masking provides that by cancelling unwelcome distractions with a uniform, not to mention pleasant, sound.  Plus, our pre-tuned technology is designed for easy installation and no maintenance.   

You simply can’t afford to have your employees distracted by everyday occurrences such as these.  Contact us to find out more about what you can afford for your employees’ productivity.

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: , ,

Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden

October 21, 2009 By








Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden

If the average worker is distracted, it usually takes almost half an hour to get back to his work or task.  At least there aren’t that many distractions, right?  Wrong.  Today’s employees feel frazzled by how often they are interrupted by co-workers’ conversations, phone calls, machinery noise, and slamming doors.  In fact, the average worker loses more than two hours of his work day as a result of such unwanted distractions.

Sound-masking is the new “silence”

 It’s not that your employees actually need silence even.  Rather it’s that they need a work environment conducive to concentration and cohesive thought.   Sound-masking provides that by cancelling unwelcome distractions with a uniform, not to mention pleasant, sound.  Plus, our pre-tuned technology is designed for easy installation and no maintenance. 


You simply can’t afford to have your employees distracted by everyday occurrences such as these.  Contact us to find out more about what you can afford for your employees’ productivity.


Malachowski, Dan.  Wasting Time at Work Costing Companies Billions.  Retrieved August 17, 2009, from http://www.davidsonstaffing.com/articles/salary/wasted-time/.

 

Filed Under: Blog

Listen to your office

October 14, 2009 By

Listen to your office

Sales are in progress, orders are given, phones are answered.  Throw in the copier and bathroom noise, not to mention the AC switching on and off and various cell phones buzzing with missed calls, voicemails, and unreturned texts and you have a virtual sound symphony.  As interesting as the current gossip may be, a critical problem arises when your workers can’t hear themselves think as a result of all the noise floating around them. 

Sound masking…the solution for open offices

Office managers have realized that fewer doors mean more noise.  Rather than accept that this is an inevitable sign of the times, there is something you can do for your office.  A Cornell study stated that “the most prevalent way of dealing with excessive noise is through the introduction of an artificial masking noise.”  With our direct-field technology, you’ll have the advantages of pre-tuned, uniform sound masking that will cancel unwelcome noise.  The result is that your employees feel less stressed and more able to focus on their work.  And with this economy, more than ever, it’s crucial to be productive.   

Mardex, Justin. (2004) Auditory, visual, and physical distractions in the workplace.  Retrieved August 17, 2009 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/13038258/Auditory-visual-and-physical-distractions-in-the-workplace

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: , , , , ,

Co-mingling leads to co-ringing

October 12, 2009 By

Co-mingling and co-ringing

There’s a reason dating a co-worker is frowned upon in most work places- it’s not that you don’t want your employees to experience a great relationship with someone in your office, it’s that you don’t want them constantly distracted when they should be working. 

Along the same lines, modern technology in open offices presents similar distractions.  Rather than concentrating on their work and meeting their deadlines, most employees find it challenging to keep their mind on the task at hand.  As soon as they do begin to focus, someone’s phone rings or the workers three cubicles down congregate to share a laugh about the weekend’s antics.  Who could ignore that?

Tuning it out

You’ve probably figured out that you can hardly ask, much less force, your employees to tune out noisy distractions.  But you can help them not become distracted by them in the first place by implementing a sound masking system.  Instead of random and sharp distractions, a sound masking system delivers a uniform and peaceful background hum that enables workers to…well, work.  And who could pass that up?

Filed Under: Blog, Business, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: , ,

Is your office productive?

October 8, 2009 By

2 x each worker = unproductive

The economy determines the fate of most, if not all, companies, and right now the picture is grim.  Most workers are grateful to have jobs, and they seem to be giving all they have.  Yet, managers need more from them and don’t know how to get it.

Take a step back for a moment and consider the fact that the average worker (probably without even realizing it) fritters away more than 2 hours of the workday.  Take 2 and multiple it by the number of workers you have (possibly even including yourself), and you’ll find your problem.  You simply can’t afford to lose 2 hours a day for every worker you have.

The economy is cut-throat, but you don’t have to be

Without banning cell phones, the internet, or bathroom breaks, how can you reclaim those countless hours?  The solution is sound masking.  People will still talk, cell phones will continue to ring and buzz, and toilets will certainly be flushed, but your workers don’t have to hear it every time.  Instead, they can continue to concentrate on their work, meet their deadlines, and achieve their goals.  Bottom-line for you is that you can meet your deadlines and goals, too. 

Filed Under: Blog

Work smarter, not harder

October 5, 2009 By

“Work smarter, not harder”

They say good workers work smarter, not harder.  Yet, today’s workers find that it’s pretty difficult to work smart or work hard when constant distractions plague them.  Whether it’s conversation or machinery, noisy interruptions break concentration.  At the very least, this leads to a staggering loss of focus, but more often than not, the result is fatigue and built-up stress.

So how can you get your employees to concentrate better?

You probably cannot eliminate all interruptions.  You can help your employees work smarter and harder by covering distracting noise. Similar to white noise, sound masking camouflages irritating or even inconsistent distractions with a peaceful, uniform hum.  As a result, rather than starting and stopping work, thus losing cohesive connections and focused energy, your workers can single-mindedly concentrate on the work at hand.

The bottom line is a peaceful, work-friendly environment for your employees.  And, at work, that’s what they need.

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: , , ,

Every minute counts and costs

October 1, 2009 By

Workplace distractions

American businesses lose around $650 billion a year through workplace distractions. It’s easy to assume that your company is not one of them. However, since the average employee squanders more than 2 hours a work day on or because of distractions, chances are your company contributes to that total.

Scapegoat

It’s also easy to blame the employees- why can’t they just focus and do their work? The simple truth is that even the most devoted employee cannot avoid untreated distractions in the workplace. Every day he hears phone calls, copy doors slammed in frustration, water cooler gossip, cell phones buzzing, elevator doors dinging, office doors opening and closing, and so on- you get the idea. You really can’t blame the employees when it’s their environment that’s the true culprit.

Sound masking

Short of remodeling from the floor up, there’s not a lot you can do, except implement sound masking. Similar to white noise canceling distracting (and irritating) noises, our systems provide precise and uniform sound masking so that your employees can concentrate on the task at hand. Our systems work with any new or existing facility and are extremely low-maintenance, thus meeting any budget. In times like these, every minute counts. It’s time to reclaim the hundreds of hours your business has already lost.

Keller, Emily. The Worst Workplace Distractions. Retrieved August 15, 2009 from http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/07/0719_distractions/index_01.htm

Filed Under: Blog