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Office noise bothers some people more than others
271–280 of 509 posts
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#272I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…
I know this isn't a great solution, but could you try a lightweight pair of headphones, and some relaxing music? Not particularly heavy music mind, but just something you can leave in the background. Maybe a movie soundtrack. I use videogame OSTs but that's not everyone's cup of tea. This would maybe make the headphone issue more bearable (lightweight - much less uncomfortable for long periods), and the goal isn't to…
No. The noise is the businesses responsibility to resolve, not the individual employee. We need spaces which take the needs of employees into account first when creating work spaces, not finance people masquerading as office space gurus.
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#273I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…
I buy 33 dB ear plugs in bulk for this reason. I keep some in my briefcase and a backup stash in my glovebox. Game changer.
I get the 3M EAR classic superfit 33s in boxes of 250. Makes a huge difference in my life.
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is no longer true. Most younger people in engineering/CS fields are the "communicator" type and like to work in noisy, open-office environments, and frequently side-by-side. It's usually older and/or more introverted people who complain about the open-office craze, but there's absolutely no shortage of programmers who will strongly defend it.
I've yet to meet a programmer who strongly defends open offices. They seem to range from "doesn't mind it" to "literally unable to tolerate it."
I love them. They vastly improve team members ability to work together imo. Personally, I’ve never met an engineer in real life who complains about them, I’ve only ever seen this on HN or Reddit. I’ve always suspected it had something to do with this:
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know this isn't a great solution, but could you try a lightweight pair of headphones, and some relaxing music? Not particularly heavy music mind, but just something you can leave in the background. Maybe a movie soundtrack. I use videogame OSTs but that's not everyone's cup of tea. This would maybe make the headphone issue more bearable (lightweight - much less uncomfortable for long periods), and the goal isn't to…
No. The noise is the businesses responsibility to resolve, not the individual employee. We need spaces which take the needs of employees into account first when creating work spaces, not finance people masquerading as office space gurus.
Sort of, the noise is also your problem to solve if you want to be productive and keep your job in the long term. It's not just the companies problem. Especially as more companies move to this model it's not like you can just leave for a different gig with quieter space as it might not exist.
Therefore you must also adapt.
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
This baffles me. There are so many alternatives to working for a startup with no real office in a dense, expensive city.
Yes, you can also work for an established company with cramped offices in a dense, expensive city. Or you can take a massive pay cut, tank your career, and go live in the middle of nowhere. Sounds great.
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Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#277FWIW, Brain.fm is great for blocking out background noise
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, you can also work for an established company with cramped offices in a dense, expensive city. Or you can take a massive pay cut, tank your career, and go live in the middle of nowhere. Sounds great.
Well, I work for a Fortune 150 company in not cramped offices in a not dense, not expensive city that is definitely not in the middle of nowhere. Its a great working environment in a great location with great benefits and pay. Such things do exist, you just have to get out of the bubble and look for them.
I suspect everyones definition of middle of nowhere is a bit different. For example, to a NYer or Bostonian anything outside their respective cores is "nowhere". To people further south and west it seems to be a much more expansive definition.
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#279I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…
>Yes, you can use noise cancelling headphones but: >2. They don't really block all the noise and you live in anxiety waiting for that one blaring ringtone to squeeze through NC headphones aren't designed to block all noise, only repetitive noise, basically white noise. Other noises, like ringtones, actually are louder or easier to hear on many models of NC headphones, as is speech around you. Noise-cancellation's pur…
The ironic thing is "noise cancelling" headphone turn down the volume on the things easiest to tune out, and turns up the volume on things that are the most jarring.
Which is why I don't use noise cancelling headphones, instead you need passive blocking of noise, ie: material to dampen the sound from the office.
Sure sucks though.
Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Yes, you can use noise cancelling headphones but: >2. They don't really block all the noise and you live in anxiety waiting for that one blaring ringtone to squeeze through NC headphones aren't designed to block all noise, only repetitive noise, basically white noise. Other noises, like ringtones, actually are louder or easier to hear on many models of NC headphones, as is speech around you. Noise-cancellation's pur…
You're generally right (in my experience) regarding ANC but I've found that Sony's WH-1000XM3 over-ear headphones do an excellent job with higher frequencies and "one off" sounds. I'm also a big fan of Mubert, an iOS app that generates non-distracting instrumental sound tracks.
Thanks for the Mubert recommendation. I'm going to give it a go. I've generally found "elevator music" to be quite pleasant. No words or unique instrumentals that distract.