Did you know that some workers have to actually leave work to be productive?  They find that leaving all the office distractions behind and working from home or even at Starbuck’s.  Phenomenal- having to escape work to actually work.  Now why is that?  Well, the average worker in an open-style office:

• Is distracted more than 2 hours a day
• Gets interrupted more than 70 times per day
• Struggles to stay focused more than 30 minutes at a time
• Suffers from stress and fatigue
• Experience high levels of stress
• Made 40 percent fewer attempts to solve difficult problems
• Make only half as many ergonomic adjustments to their workstations as did their colleagues in quiet offices, resulting in an increase in repetitive strain injuries (such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) and workers’ comp claims.

Go figure they’d have to leave the cramped, not to mention distracting, quarters of the cubicle farm to be productive.

So what can you do about it?

Your job as a manager is to minimize distractions so your employees can maximize their work.  You have several options: the quiet game, addition of walls and sound-absorbing paneling, or covering sound with sound masking.  I think we can agree that the quiet game is out, though always a fun choice.  Adding walls and paneling is expensive, doesn’t always line up with design aesthetics, and also contributes to VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and/or the collection of dust mites or allergens.  That leaves us with sound masking- an invisible noise solution (like white noise) tucked away in the ceiling.  Most sound masking systems are easy to install and very low-maintenance.

In times like these, every hour counts.  Survey your options and help your employees return to work.

How do improve your bottom line, but with fewer resources than ever?

Unfortunately, that’s what this economy has done this Christmas season- except you don’t even get jelly out of it.  You have to maximize the resources you do have: your employees.  The heart of your productivity lies with your workers.  Whether you have a staff of 1 or 100, each of your workers could be more productive.  They say that the average worker is not working due to distractions for more than 2 hours a day, which resulted in an estimated loss of $600 billion last year.  That’s a lot of money to lose over an easily-resolved, but obviously all too common problem.

Takin’ care of business

You can reclaim your chunk of the $600 billion with a simple solution: sound masking.  Not unlike white noise, sound masking is the addition of low-level background noise to enable your employees to do what they came for- work.  You might be surprised how much more focused workers are with fewer distractions, not to mention less stressed. 

If more productive and less stressed workers sound good this Christmas season, sound masking might be the best option for your company.

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

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.