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/.