Introduction
It’s International Noise Awareness Day, so to celebrate this day, we are going to take look at the affect noise has on productivity and wellbeing in the workplace.
We wanted to consider how noise negatively affects a person’s wellbeing, productivity and over all health, which is why we conducted the Noise and Wellbeing in the workplace survey. There were key areas in the survey that stood out to us most, which we are going to highlight in this article.
Noise and Wellbeing at Work
The acoustics are generally a design element that is overlooked when designing a workspace. But when you consider that sixty-five percent of UK office workers say that noise impacts on their ability to complete work in an accurate and timely manner, surely acoustics should be a top priority when thinking about the workplace.
It’s not just productivity that noise affects, it’s stress levels too. A whopping fifty-eight percent of office workers said that noise has a high impact on their stress levels in the workplace. Stress can affect your body, your thoughts and your feelings. Stress that’s left to unchecked can contribute to many health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. This can increase absenteeism in employees and once again can reduce productivity levels within your business.
Sound Masking
There are solutions to minimise noise in your workplace. One of those solutions is Sound Masking. Often mistaken for horrible white noise, Sound Masking is a sophisticated technology that has the potential to bolster acoustical privacy and reduce distracting noise, which in turn improves overall office comfort and improves productivity.
Installing Sound Masking and treatment in a modern open plan office environment is known to diffuse office distractions like echoes and reduce the intelligibility of human speech, which was found as the most distracting type of noise in the office.
Sound Masking is not just for open plan offices, it’s also ideal for meeting rooms where privacy is paramount. Sound Masking releases a gentle noise that has been likened to airflow, with the ability to mask speech and incidental noise. This means that noise struggles to travel in and out of the treated meeting room.
Conclusion
Remark Group can design a bespoke solution that fits the requirements of your offices perfectly. Not only do we offer your traditional air flowing Sound Masking, but we also offer the ability to intertwine your Sound Masking with natural sounds. This bespoke solution creates a completely immersive and calming atmosphere, where employees can focus and collaborate in a natural environment.
Interested in learning more? Watch our Sound Masking video to see how Sound Masking can create a positive difference within the workplace.
