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Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

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Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#91

Post by eric_h »

ghaff wrote: post #67
ethanbond wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the risk of seeming spammy since I just replied to another person on here, you should check out the Here One by Doppler Labs. I had the first version and it's incredible – albeit mostly a novelty device. They're taking preorders for the new one right now and it seems to no longer be a novelty device at all... Also since you specifically mentioned comfort, these are just little wireless earbuds that feel comfy enou…

Looks interesting. I have the Bose QC-20s and they're great for traveling. They're great on planes although, as others indicate, they're better at background noise than voices. I held off on noise canceling headphones for ages because I pack pretty light and refused to bring over-the-ear headphones traveling--and then hesitated at the price. But they were really worth it. I never realized before using them how much I…

I've got the QC-35s. They're actually pretty good at lowering speaking voices to the below intelligible level, IMO. This was also my first pair of noise cancelling headphones ever, and holy shit what a difference they make on an airplane; I'd never really appreciated how loud it was until now.

I also find that I listen to music at lower absolute volume now as a result of the noise cancelling; I'm fairly certain I did some damage to my ears over the years, and at least I'm not continuing it at the same rate now.

They are bloody expensive, though.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#92

Post by Grishnakh »

speeder wrote: post #80
pklausler wrote: post #10

The problem with open office plans is that it takes just one noisy person to spoil it for everybody. If managed carefully and actively, they can work -- it just takes an manager willing to correct bad behavior or send sick people home. Where I work, I have a budding tupperware percussionist, three imminent victims of whooping cough, some parents managing high-maintenance offspring over cell phones, and one guy who co…

I have ADHD, meaning that open office is great to distract me... But also, one of the symptons of ADHD, with the "H" there, is that people must move, in my particular case one of the things I tend to do is tap my nails on the desk, use tupperware as drums, or if a actual musical instrument is nearby, even if I dunno how to play it, I play it. So, ADHD person in open office not only has terrible productivity due to ot…

It's too bad people like you can't sue for millions because these stupid companies have such intolerable office environments. I can't think of anything else that's going to get these stupid companies to change their ways.

Things used to be a lot better 15+ years ago, when we had cubicles. It wasn't a panacea (since you could still hear your neighbors), but the cube farms I've worked in were much quieter than these idiotic open-plan offices, and it was so much easier to concentrate.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#93

Post by CWuestefeld »

pjc50 wrote: post #44
ryandrake wrote: post #26

Different strokes for different folks. I'm probably the only person on HN that prefers open office workspaces. I currently have an office to myself and it's so lonely and isolating. I think I'd go crazy working all day without human interaction, so I hardly ever use it. And, no, chat isn't an adequate substitute. I'll generally charge up my laptop and go out and work in a break room or some other common area with act…

I think the best environment I had was when there were 3 of us in an office. Enough company to talk to and collaborate with, not enough to prevent work getting done.

I spent several years sharing a good-sized office with two other developers. We'd all worked together for some time, and got along really well. It worked out famously. Which means that something had to change... In this case it was the company growing and moving to a larger building which, despite its size, couldn't support the enclosed office space.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#94

Post by zzalpha »

Swizec wrote: post #40
zzalpha wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a book that cites sources is immediately more trustworthy, to me, than companies following fashionable trends in office design without a critical eye toward impacts on employee performance. Show me one, just one , example of a company moving to open office space only after evaluating performance impact (or, conversely, immediately evaluating the impact after such a change), and that would be something to look…

Maybe they do all those studies and decide that the hit in productivity is worth the cheaper open space? Maybe individual performance just doesn't matter that much? I'd bet that the bigger the company, the less it matters how effective individuals are and the more it matters how effective teams are. As much as I love working from home or an office or whatever, team productivity is better when people who work together…

As much as I love working from home or an office or whatever, team productivity is better when people who work together share physical space.

Define "team".

I fully believe that a co-located 5-9 person team in an open space can be a good thing.

I also fully believe that a co-located 20-30 person department composed of 4-6 teams, all in a single open space is a complete disaster.

And don't get me started on the travesty that is the new Facebook space.

To me, the perfect solution is neither individual offices nor open plans, but rather 5-9 person team spaces with floor-to-ceiling walls and a door, plus breakout rooms.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#95

Post by Grishnakh »

mahyarm wrote: post #76
ritchiea wrote: post #16

I will never understand why this is such a point of contention on HN and why it isn't accepted that some people legitimately prefer open office plans while others prefer quiet. And even more practical and intelligent would be to offer different kinds of spaces so that people can choose where to work based on a particular mood. But instead we just get weekly complaints about open offices. I'm probably more productive…

It's very difficult to find a place that isn't open office. Every single place I've interviewed and worked at has been open office or low wall cubicles which might as well be open office. The only places that I know of that have private offices for some engineers are joel spolsky companies, microsoft and apple. So the people who prefer open offices already have a ton of choice. Those who don't have almost no choice.

You know what we need? Some kind of website that lists companies and tells what kind of office environment they have, so that we can proactively look for companies that have the office layout we prefer.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#96

Post by zzalpha »

6DM wrote: post #79
pzh wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious... could you explain what you specifically meant by ear-buds being damaging to your hearing? Were you blasting the volume to drown out environment noise or were you talking about noise-canceling earphones? (I personally use noise-canceling earphones a lot, and the only bad thing I've heard is that they may cause vertigo in some people...)

I was turning the volume up loud enough to drown out the loud conversations when using ear-buds. By damaging, I mean I was constantly asking people to repeat them selves because while I could hear them I couldn't distinguish their words. Not everyone was like that, just moderate to soft spoken people or those with deep voices. I didn't make the connection until I happened across one article about it, which I think wa…

In-ear headphones? All the benefits of passive noise cancellation without big hefty cans on your head.

I switched to them mainly to protect my hearing (I tend to listen to music on the bus or on airplanes where there's a lot of ambient noise, and with open-air buds I had to crank the volume) but they're also a godsend in the workplace when I really need to focus (and I have a private office).

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#97

Post by [deleted] »

pklausler wrote: post #10

The problem with open office plans is that it takes just one noisy person to spoil it for everybody. If managed carefully and actively, they can work -- it just takes an manager willing to correct bad behavior or send sick people home. Where I work, I have a budding tupperware percussionist, three imminent victims of whooping cough, some parents managing high-maintenance offspring over cell phones, and one guy who co…

[deleted]

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#98

Post by xixi77 »

Swizec wrote: post #33
ryandrake wrote: post #26

Different strokes for different folks. I'm probably the only person on HN that prefers open office workspaces. I currently have an office to myself and it's so lonely and isolating. I think I'd go crazy working all day without human interaction, so I hardly ever use it. And, no, chat isn't an adequate substitute. I'll generally charge up my laptop and go out and work in a break room or some other common area with act…

Maybe you're an extrovert? Being around people gives you energy. For us introverts it's the opposite. Being around people drains us of energy. Even if we enjoy their company and enjoy social interaction . It's tiring. There's probably no silver bullet for office design. People are different, as you say.

I don't think it's purely an intro- vs. extrovert thing: as an anecdote, I tend to test as introvert, but find what the sister comment says very much applicable: it is hard to impossible to focus and/or maintain motivation without "seeing other people do things". Perhaps this has something with the ADDOCD scale, which I am firmly at the left end of: generally, I do not get distracted by sounds/questions/etc and very easily go back to what I was doing before distraction; but at the same time I find it rather difficult to e.g. avoid going off on unnecessary tangents, which is where seeing other people work helps.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#99

Post by nisse72 »

digler999 wrote: post #90
nisse72 wrote: post #89

I am currently working in a very crowded open office. We have small desks where we sit almost elbow to elbow, the place is all hard surfaces (it's an old industrial building made into office space), and there is a fair amount of noise. But none of this would bother me except for the fact that one senior person has decided to have speakers installed in the ceiling, and we have to listen to non-stop spotify playing top…

If you don't like them, and you have no hope of using direct methods, you might be able to turn them in to either spotify or ASCAP. I think they might need a special license to play music for more than one person. It's dirty and it's snitching, but it might make your problem go away.

I would love to do that, but even though my opinion is shared by possibly 80% of the staff here I would also be the prime suspect since I've been quite outspoken about it. In fact there's a note on the back of the amplifier telling me specifically to keep my hands off the speaker cables! (They have been unplugged on a few occasions, but not by me).

My manager is sympathetic but powerless. However we're expecting some major changes soon so I am cautiously hopeful, but I'm also keeping my eyes open for other opportunities in my area. This will sort itself one way or another.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#100

Post by xixi77 »

kaishiro wrote: post #37
ryandrake wrote: post #26

Different strokes for different folks. I'm probably the only person on HN that prefers open office workspaces. I currently have an office to myself and it's so lonely and isolating. I think I'd go crazy working all day without human interaction, so I hardly ever use it. And, no, chat isn't an adequate substitute. I'll generally charge up my laptop and go out and work in a break room or some other common area with act…

Nah, you're not alone. I've commented in this regard before, but working in isolation for me just destroys my productivity. I find it very difficult to focus as I feel very alone in the work. I don't even need or want to be a part of the ongoing conversations. It's just something about being amongst other people doing things that motivates me. Given the choice between a large office with a door and a random table at…

Absolutely true here as well; "being amongst other people doing things" is it. What I found (somewhat) helpful is making sure to get out of the office regularly, even if it's just a trip to the water cooler.
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