Open offices are known for being noisy places with a lot of different acoustic disturbances: the coffee machine, the printer, fingers tapping on computer keyboards, … but most of all; noisy colleagues. Research has shown that the most annoying part of working in an open office is having talkative colleagues around us.
Hearing people talking to each other or on the phone next to us impacts our concentration and our productivity. Instead of focusing on our task, we focus on what is being said, especially if the speech is intelligible, of good quality. A study has shown that people who hear other people talking in their language will be more impacted by their dialogue than if they hear people talking in a foreign language. Noise is not a big problem if we are doing simple, routine tasks that don’t require a lot of attention. However, if we are busy with a complicated, unusual task, working in a quiet place is more than necessary. Otherwise, the focus goes to all the surrounding noise, and we lose our time trying to accomplish the task, without efficiency.
This is why it is essential to be able to escape from noise during work. Offices should have specific quiet rooms for people who need to focus on important, complicated tasks, so they can isolate themselves. There should also be spaces dedicated to people who need to call someone, so they don’t disturb their colleagues with their phone calls.
For some of us, the problem of noise is also present when we work from home. If we have a big family or kids running around the house and playing, it can be very difficult to be productive. In this case, finding a room where nobody enters during work hours is a great solution.
Notadesk can help. With our compact, mobile desk, you will be able to escape from the noise and work quietly without distractions anywhere you want.
Malinowska Paulina
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