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A noisy office is a nuisance - The alter_native to officeworks?
337 sats \ 5 comments \ @Tef 29 Jun alter_native
How difficult was it to return to your offices after remote work from home during the pandemic?
After years of remote work, post-pandemic employees are struggling with office distractions. The solutions run from in-office phone booths to libraries to, surprisingly, adding more sound.
Personally, I have become more sensitive even to insignificant noises.
“I don’t know if it’s just because we’ve all become a bit more psychopathic, or maybe it’s always been in us, but I pick up on everything now,” says West, 33. “If someone has the audacity to take a phone call in a smallish office where people are trying to work, it grinds my ears.”
I feel his pain.
In a Sept. 2023 survey by workplace research firm Leesman, noise levels were rated among the 10 most important features of the office—ranking between functioning toilets and an IT help desk. Yet only about 32% of employees are satisfied with noise levels in an average office, another Leesman survey (released this past April) found, and only two issues had lower satisfaction numbers in those offices: Access to nearby “leisure facilities,” and the rate of people walking past workstations.
The response to all these complaints presents a business opportunity, with vendors successfully selling everything from phone booth-style pods to “soundscaping” services that use a “biophilic” approach to help muffle voices with sounds found in nature. Furniture makers and interior designers are adding more acoustic-friendly materials and designing “libraries” for quiet places to work. Some employers are doling out noise-canceling headphones and even building tools to help workers alert colleagues when they need to focus.
So, where you see a problem, big companies see an opportunity to do business.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @SatsMate 29 Jun
If i'm not on a call or busy working, the clickity clack on the keyboard really gets under my skin. I learn to live with it though, I generally am more productive in an office/shared space setting.
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24 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 29 Jun
I’ve always been super sensitive to noise. It’s often incredibly inconsiderate, and golden rule breaking, like all forms of pollution. I’ve never been required to work in an office though (with the exception of my college internship).
These days, I choose to work in @PlebLab but I have my own room and even then it can get pretty noisy (the dude in the office next to mine is on sales calls all day and is a total yeller). A few months ago I bought some noise cancelling headphones and it’s made a huge difference. I can effectively achieve complete silence even when things are really loud.
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @Tef OP 29 Jun
A few months ago I bought some noise cancelling headphones and it’s made a huge difference.
If you have any link or photo to see the model of your headphones, that would be great. I'm searching for a pair of good ones.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 30 Jun
Knowing how much I'd be using them, I splurged for apple's noise-canceling headphones. Like with most apple stuff, I suspect you can find something roughly equivalent for 30% the price.
Another alternative is earplugs. Most people hate having them in their ears but they are about the cheapest way to to.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 29 Jun freebie
With noise solved, the main thing I'm frustrated by in most coworking spaces is that they don't have tons of cubicle-like private work areas. It's incredibly distracting to work in them and I'd argue it's why most of them are empty most of the time. I don't have much faith that will change anytime soon either, because the people running and working on the coworking spaces usually create private spaces for themselves, isolating them from learning about the problem. And, when they don't use their privileges to isolate themselves and have a front desk type of role, their job is to be distracted by the needs of the people in the space, so they see the distraction as a neutral thing at worst.