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Cutting costs doesn’t mean cutting corners

November 10, 2009 By


Businesses have fewer resources but clients who demand better service.  Every manager is looking for ways to cut costs and somehow not cut corners.  How can you get more from less? 

Maximizing the resource you have

Let’s face it, in an open office sound carries.  As one Cornell study found, “as sound levels increase, the complexity of the task one can complete generally decreases.”  In addition, they found that high levels of noise generally lead to higher levels of fatigue and irritability.  So, you get less or at least worse work from tired and stressed employees. 

The same Cornell study also stated that the best way to contend with excessive noise is by using a sound-masking system.  Sound-masking provides a uniform and low-level background noise to cancel out unwanted distractions, thus enabling your workers to produce higher-quality work in less time.

Without hiring any new staff, you can increase your company’s productivity exponentially by reclaiming the time lost due to unnecessary distractions. Don’t you think it’s worth maximizing your workers’ time? 

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

 

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Everybody’s doing it

November 5, 2009 By

Distractions may not seem like a big problem.  Maybe your employees shoot off a few unnecessary texts or answer a couple personal calls.  Everybody does, right?  That’s the problem.  Everybody does, which means that the average worker loses more than two hours every day to distractions.  In fact, the work place, and open offices in general, have become so distracting that more than 70% of surveyed workers said that their productivity would be increased if their work place were less noisy.

How do you conduct business with less sound? 

While you can try to ban personal calls, you can’t keep people from making business calls, closing doors and flushing toilets.  That’s the cost of doing business.  But you can minimize the distraction level with sound masking.  Sound masking functions like white noise, cancelling out unwanted and distracting noise.  Unlike white noise, however, sound masking can be distributed uniformly and at the lowest volume necessary for maximum productivity.  That way, you’re not trading one problem for another. 

Contact us for more information on how to keep your employees focused on what really counts: work.

 

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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: , ,

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: , , ,

I’ll take 2 more, please

September 25, 2009 By

Would you like 2 more productive hours in your work day? 

Most people would jump at the idea of getting 2 more hours of productivity a day.  But, what if you could get 2 more hours for each of your employees?  That could add up pretty quickly, don’t you think?  It’s a sad fact that the average employee loses several hours of her day as a result of distractions, many of which are completely avoidable with a simple sound masking system. 

Sound masking restores productivity

Similar to the idea of providing a noisy area with white noise, a sound masking system pleasantly restores a peaceful work environment for your workers.  With our Speech Privacy Systems, treated areas don’t suffer the drone of the hustle and bustle of today’s open offices.  Your employees can actually concentrate on their work instead of the dinging of the elevator or the take-out order of the guy 3 cubicles down. 

That means more productivity from each employee.  Who could say no to potentially hundreds more hours of output every day?

 

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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Mum’s the word

September 21, 2009 By

Mum’s the word

If only that were true. Then your employees would regain the 2 hours they lose every day to mindless distractions. As it is, open office environments present a host of noisy distractions that even the most zealous worker would find impossible to ignore. Could you tune out Nancy’s proposal story, Bob striking out again, or the rumor that someone brought cookies? Now add in beeping computers, the AC switching on and off, toilets flushing, papers rustling, and doors slamming, and you get a good picture of what your employees face every day they step into the office.

So, what can you do about it?

One website devoted to distractions suggests that you simply have to accept the fact that interruptions such as these are a part of the day. We do not agree. While some interruptions are inevitable, many of the distractions that today’s workers complain about are completely fixable with sound masking. Similar to the concept of white noise, sound masking cancels out unwanted noise, but without the unpleasant sound of static. Help your employees and your bottom line by looking into a simple solution.

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

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