Helpful Articles

Imagine that you must prepare an important report concerning your company's sales over the last three months and on the preferences of your customers as determined by your company's sales force. On the day that you must prepare that report, you will make sure to be well rested and to be in the office early. You certainly do not want to have to deal with irrelevant and uninteresting distractions while you're preparing that report, such as a colleague who yammers endlessly about the odd date that she was on last weekend.

It is proven that office noise negatively impacts office productivity, regardless of what is producing the noise. In some cases, office noise can create stress and induce depression and other serious side effects.

Having said that, many employees have to put up with office noise at some time or other in their working lives. Hence it is a good idea to be ready to better handle these possibilities. Realistically, if you have co-workers who spend too much time chatting about anything and everything, you might want to limit your time dealing with them. Be straightforward yet diplomatic in letting them know that their constant talking is disruptive. They might provide an apology, and will possibly also curtail their conversations with you in the future.

If the printer or fax machine near your workspace is the source of noise, (gently!) ask your IT staff to investigate the source of the noise. Chances are that it is a device malfunction because most companies selling office equipment spend millions making these devices noise-free. Frequent servicing by qualified people can help remove or at least reduce the noise.

Lots of offices are plagued with noises that come from the coffee machine. While the machine is there to provide convenient drinks, it can also provide high levels of background noise, which can distract a person from performing assigned tasks. If this is the case in your office, consider bringing the issue up with a supervisor or a colleague.

A noisy office does no good, regardless of the source of the noise. As such, there are many low-cost noise control methods for most offices. Sound absorbent panels and higher cubicle walls can help cut down on how far office noise - whether from human or mechanical sources - spreads. The huddle rooms and cafeteria are located at corners, away from the place where workers sit. And one of the most effective solutions is to cover the noise with comfortable, low-level noise, often referred to as "white noise" or "sound masking." This is best done in the initial design phase, but newer systems are easily able to be retrofitted into most office spaces. The key, of course, is to do something to control the noise in your workspace.

No matter where it originates, office noise is detrimental. It interferes with productivity and may trigger stress in employees, possibly even snowballing into more debilitating illnesses, including depression. It is difficult to work in a noisy office, no matter how the noise originates. Yet there are numerous inexpensive noise reduction systems available which fall under the heading of "sound masking." The most appropriate time to think about the use of this technique is during the office design, but modern systems can be retrofitted into most work areas with relative ease. The bottom line, though, is to take at least some kind of action to reduce noise in the office.