The Problem with Noise

Noise is part of working with people.  Plus, most offices are open, meaning there are dozens of cubicles, side-by-side that can’t help but be intrusive with regard to one another.  Interestingly, open office floor plans were designed to save money in that there were fewer resources used, with more workers in the same amount of space.  The problem is that cramming in more workers adds to the volume level which, in turn, increases the distraction level, which, of course, lessens productivity- and we all know what that means: less profit.  It’s a funny situation for sure.

On the flip side, distraction doesn’t just bother managers; most workers are fed up with it.  Surveyed employees report that all they want is distraction-free solo work time.  High noise levels not only break their concentration, they also add to their stress levels, as well as their error margins.  Essentially, a distracted worker is a disengaged worker, and disengaged workers feel less inclined to show up every day, adding to absenteeism and turn-over costs.  Finally, disengaged workers are less likely to make ergonomic adjustments to their work stations, much to their own detriment time- and health-wise.

So, what’s a boss to do?

The boss doesn’t like loss of productivity and increased costs, and workers just want to be left alone to get their work done.  A solution many businesses have turned to is sound masking, or the use of white noise as a low-level background noise to cover, or block, much more distracting noises.  It’s counter-intuitive, but uniform white noise actually does mask irritating, less consistent noise.  It’s the same principle as running the sink.  The sound of water flow in and of itself is neither lour, nor distracting.  However, when you do run it, the water renders the conversation outside the bathroom door unintelligible.  That’s an example of white noise.

In the work place, you don’t have to install sinks every few cubicles {which is good thing since you’re not trying to encourage extra bathroom breaks}.  But you can use in-ceiling speakers to provide white noise and even a paging/music system to cover the noise that is detrimental to everyone.

Distractions cost businesses $600 billion a year.  Sound masking is a fraction of the amount of money your business loses and not only reduces distractions, but also stress levels and errors.