Office Noise: Tips To Solve This Menace

Working in an office is supposed to mean that you can count on your colleagues to assist you in brainstorming and solving difficult problems. However, reality is not so sweet in all offices. 80% of dedicated workers report their inability to concentrate on their jobs because of the noise created by their co-workers. Well, in such situations, it is natural that you begin to wonder whether having co-workers is of any use at all!

Nevertheless, posing that particular question is not going to help you since you cannot fire an individual from your corporation for making too much noise in the workplace if you are not the firm’s owner. For that reason, you need to find viable ways to eliminate the distracting sounds rather than those who are creating them.

To begin the search for a viable solution, you must make your manager aware of the inconvenience caused to your by your workers. This will ensure that any hiccups in your projects caused by the inability to concentrate on work due to noise, don’t get blamed upon you.

After telling your manager about it, it is time for you to confront your noisy coworker. Be gentle, but direct. Nobody likes to be embarrassed or feel attacked. But most of your coworkers are probably reasonable people who deal with the same workplace annoyances you do.

If your co-worker causing office noise doesn’t see the problem, then you may be well advised to speak directly to the coworker’s direct supervisor. A direct supervisor acts as a solutions enabler and a learning architect for employees reporting to him or her. As such, it is his or her responsibility to counsel the coworker creating the nuisance. In most cases, the noisy coworkers change their ways after getting reprimanded by their managers.

Finally, you might also invest in a “white noise” or speech privacy system. Such systems can cover up some or all of the distracting noise coming from your noisy coworkers, limiting their ability to annoy you and helping you to stay focused on the task at hand.

Majority of people working in an office have problem concentrating on their job due to noise created by their co-workers. Since you cannot remove your colleagues from the office you should talk to your manager and draw his attention to your problem. If your co-worker is reasonable, then on talking to him, he is likely to help you and stop distracting you from your work. If your co-worker is unreasonable, then talk to your supervisor who will counsel him. You should also get yourself a speech privacy, or ‘white noise’ system which will buffer the office noise, leaving you free to focus on your work.

- Frank Barnett