14 Nov 2022
How does better acoustic play a role in improving workspace productivity?
Imagine you are working on something very important or in some meeting at the office and then all of a sudden your concentration got broken by an external sound/noise which ultimately ruined your entire work. How would you feel? Of course, this can annoy anyone. Also, as per the research, noise is one of the most impactful things that disbalance the work in the office.
In order to deal with this, corporates switched to an "open plan office" structure which provides the employees to collaborate and use their creativity. Open plan is an architectural and interior design that takes a large and open space on any floor to eliminate the use of enclosed and small rooms like private offices. However, this idea of working also reduces productivity somewhere as most of the employees find this system of work as violent to their privacy to work.
While an open plan office is the best method for employees to share thoughts and ideas, the acoustics of any workplace should be well thought that the design of it won’t create disruption in workflow.
What are the different examples of noise in the workspace?
In this extract of the article, we have come up with some examples that can cause noise in the workspace. Let’s figure out what causes noise: -
1) The density of the workstation, i.e more people within a small space
2) Employees work in the office sitting next to each other.
3) The tendency of employees to talk in louder sounds while exchanging words or even when they talk on calls
4) Uses of brick, stone, and glass in the interiors prevent absorption of sound, and thus the sound will echo
5) Video conferencing calls often create noise in the office
Like these, there are so many other examples that you can see that cause noise in your workspace.
What are the ways to create a better acoustic to improve work productivity at the workspace?
Now that we have figured out some of the causes of noise at our workspace, we will now let you know what are the ways that help you to create a better acoustic environment in order to improve workspace productivity.
Selection of workspace
It is very important to decide the place of your work. Your workplace should be designed away from noise-creating areas. For example, your meeting room should not be designed close to a cafeteria or server room.
Formal Meetings
The conversation in meetings is so important that it is important for everyone to listen to the words being spoken in the meeting carefully and take participate if required. Hence, to avoid noise in such an important conversation, a sound-absorbing ceiling with better quality to absorb low frequencies and wall absorbers with two adjacent walls can be useful.
Noise-Friendly Flooring
If your floor surfaces are of natural wood, ceramic, or porcelain, it will surely enhance the noise in the workspace. Instead of this, if you choose carpet it will be your ideal decision as it helps in reducing noise. Vinyl flooring can also be used as an alternative option and also it is easy to maintain with various design options to choose from.
More Focused on work
It is required to have sound insulation like a ceiling that absorbs sound and at least one wall that absorbs sound. It is required in both cellular offices and concentration spaces.
Phone intensive
A room should be there at your workplace having sound insulation Ceilings and walls so that when someone needs to take a call they can use that room and their conversation won’t bother his/her co-workers.
The acoustic play a role in improving workspace productivity as if there is an unnecessary sound continues coming inside the office/workstation. It is important to take care of noise control in order to enhance productivity.
Conclusion:
As per the research, it is found that when improvement in office design has made the workspace resulted in a 16% reduction in disturbance and around 11% in cognitive stress. In order to make productivity higher, better acoustic management is necessary.
We have explained the best methods to reduce noise in the workspace and now it's your call to take a decision. Do let us know if we can help you in the future.
