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I Heard That
Workplace noise is not only a pet peeve for one in five employees but it can also hurt productivity. Any interruption forces an employee to restart his or her thought process. HR needs to tread lightly in handling such a delicate issue, however, and creating a policy on it may not be the best option.
In an otherwise quiet office, a cell-phone ringtone suddenly plays a digitized version of La Cucaracha. Or two co-workers can't seem to stop loudly talking about the baseball game last night. Or someone plays music at a volume level that's clearly not office-appropriate. Noise at the workplace can be quite an annoyance for employees. In fact, when asked to name their top workplace pet peeve, two in 10 (21 percent) workers cited noises such as speaker phones, loud talkers or ringtones, according to a recent study by Ipsos Public Affairs-Randstad. The noise gets people more than just aggravated -- it affects their productivity. In 2009, Louisiana State University researchers watched students conducting tasks on a computer, while ringtones were played. After the noise subsided, the students generally worked more slowly than before the ringtone was played. The study also found that people exposed to noise were less likely to retain information they were studying when noise is present. The researchers played a loud cell-phone ring during a class, then tested students afterwards. They scored 25 percent worse on material taught at the time of the cell phone ringing, compared to the rest of the subject matter. "For some people, certain noise is soothing, relaxing or comforting but for other people, the same noise may be irritating and stressful," says Craig Runde, director of the Center for Conflict Dynamics at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla. "People are different -- that alone suggests why conflicts can arise." If employees are having a dispute about noise, the best course of action for HR to take is to help them figure out a resolution on their own, he says. "Whether it's over noise or a myriad of other differences, conflicts are inevitable and will occur again and again," Runde says. "To the degree to which you can help people resolve conflicts early on, at the lowest possible level, that's going to serve your organization well." When HR intervenes without creating a way for employees to resolve their differences, it can be a slippery slope. "You're going to become the judge of every dispute ever after and it's going to be a major time sink for you," he says. Mary Hladio, CEO of Ember Carriers Leadership Group Inc., a consultancy in Cincinnati, agrees that noise can often lead to productivity stalling interruptions. "Anytime you are interrupted ... you have to restart your thought process," says Hladio. "I take my train of thought and move it over to the annoying distraction -- ringtones or music at someone's desk -- and now I have that song stuck in my head. It's a lot for the human mind to process, filter out and [return to being] productive." Although noise can be a bother, Hladio says, HR leaders should not make a policy about it. A better alternative, she says, is to suggest practical measures -- such as using headphones to listen to music or taking a conversation to a common area of the workplace. She agrees with Runde that it is better for the organization and for HR to get the employees to settle minor disputes amongst themselves. "I would love to see those workplaces have some open conversations," says Hladio. "Say, 'You're being a little loud, can you take that conversation somewhere else?' "
June 22, 2010 Copyright 2010© LRP Publications |
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© Copyright 2010 LRP Publications. All rights reserved.
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