In today’s office environment, many hazards exist for workplace productivity, and some may be surprised to hear how fast an office worker’s concentration, stress levels, and patience can be worn out by their environment. An office is not a quiet place; many distracting sounds are present, such as other workers talking on their phones to those who are just gossiping, to the noise of fax and copier machines to the gurgle of the water cooler to the sounds of air conditioning, heating, or even outside traffic if the building is very close to a busy street. Overall, these sounds can really hamper a worker’s concentration and skill at the workplace, and if this undermines their ability to speak on the phone to a business partner or a client or customer, this can even harm the company itself, especially if customers get annoyed and hang up because they cannot hear the office worker over the sounds of their environment. So, what can be done about a noisy office? A soundproof phone booth is often the answer, and a soundproof office booth can create a quiet, low-stress environment in which an office worker may speak on the phone with just about anyone. Construction crews can be hired to build a phone booth for anyone who wants one, and having a soundproof phone booth for office work can in fact pay for itself by making sure that customers are not lost.
Rates of Distraction
Exactly why is a soundproof phone booth so important? Is the general noise of an office really such a disruption or a hazard to productivity? Some recent statistics say that yes, an office is a very noisy and stressful place, and similar statistics have been compiled for similar industries such as call centers and even hotels. To start with, it has been determined that some 73% of the American workforce, which figures to about 100 million people, are what is known as “knowledge workers” who work best in open office environments, although this may also expose them to a lot of noise pollution. Work errors, stress, conversational distractions, and more can all disrupt how well a worker will perform in his or her office, and the numbers show that a soundproof booth can make all the difference.
Overall stress levels, for example, can lower employee stress by as much as 27%, and a lot of productivity can be regained just from lowering one’s overall stress levels. Getting a soundproof phone booth has more benefits, too. For another, getting a soundproof office environment means reducing work errors by about 10%, and this can save a lot of time by not having to go back and fix those errors, and in all likelihood, making and having to fix those errors can add to the stress caused by a noisy workplace. Worker concentration may be boosted by up to 48% if someone is working in a soundproof environment, and this may reduce the rate of work errors, which in turn can reduce rates of stress. Often, these problems are tied together, and eliminating one can have a positive impact in several other ways.
An employee worker can ask to have a soundproof phone booth for office work set up, if the budget allows, and once this zone is created, the worker can sit inside and make any and all phone calls that they need to, as well as doing some of their related paperwork in there as well, taking advantage of the lack of noise distractions (and some visual distractions as well, based on how the booth is built). And if multiple employees in an office get their own office phone booth, then the resulting increase in productivity and reduction in work errors among all those workers can have a very attractive impact on the office’s overall functions, and this can make it a good investment for a boss.
Hotels may also take advantage of noise-blocking technology. Among all hotel guest complaints, unwanted noise is #1, but whenever there are no noise complaints, hotel guest ratings tend to be about 32% higher. For this reason, hotel owners may want to install soundproof paint or wall insulation in their buildings. Motels could consider the same option.