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Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

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Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#1
I work in a design agency that plays Radio 6 Music from 9-5. I used to turn my headphones up to cover it - and help me get in the zone - but a recent night out has bumped up my tinnitus level so I'm trying to keep levels low.

Do you work in an office which has music playing and does it impact (positively/negatively) on your work rate?

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#2
I'd quit my office if they had music playing from 9-5. There are already way too many distractions. From people walking by to the printers to general office chatter.

A lot of people use headphones in my office, but occasionally someone has the bright idea to turn on their speakers because they misplaced their headphones and well we usually ask them to turn it off.

To answer your question: most noise negatively impacts my work.

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#3
You really can't play music in an environment where knowledge workers go about their day! That notion is crazy to me. That's like playing disco during a grandmaster chess tournament.

Personally I could work with or without the music. My office doesn't play music. If they did I would complain -- sometimes you just aren't in the mood for tunes.

That being said I've heard anecdotally that music without lyrics doesn't detriment productivity too much.

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#4
I used to work in a coworking office. They didn't play music but I still found other people having conversations quite distracting. Working from a spare room at home again which is quite quiet. Having said that, it's not today as my little one is poorly and at home and cranky... which has quite a negative impact on my ability to focus.

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#5
We used to play music on Friday afternoons in my old office.

But we realized quickly that this was disruptive to many people. You need to give knowledge workers a “clean slate” environment so they can change it into one that lets them perform their best, but without affecting others.

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#8
Wow, that's horrible. I would probably get nothing done in that office. Mine is silent apart from occasional talking, but even then for anything extended/scheduled people tend to grab a room so it doesn't disturb others.

I would recommend getting some better headphones/foam earbud tips to block the noise. I have some earbuds with Comply foam tips, which block noise extremely well at safe listening volumes to the point where I can hear my music clearly on the train, so office noise is no issue.

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#10
Nope. Between music, noise from the street and the constant overlapping conversations, magnified by the fact that we're probably over the allowed occupancy for our space, I sometimes have a hard time hearing people sitting across from me. In this company's effort to save money, they've ended up hurting productivity.
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