Offices are noisy places, and that’s just something to live with, right? Wrong, or you wouldn’t be reading this article. Studies have shown a link between noise pollution exposure and concentration and stress levels.
High levels of noise also reduce cognitive performance and the brain’s ability to solve tasks. It might not be necessary to eliminate all sound from your workspace, but getting the levels down could make it easier for your team to function and for your employees to be calmer and happier while they work.
So what can you do to reduce noise in your office or call center?
Source: buzzi.space
Acoustic Check
Your first responsibility is to perform an acoustic check on your surroundings. You need to investigate the areas causing the most problems and find solutions for those first. Remember, too, that you will need to perform a check throughout the day and over the week – it might be that the levels go up at certain times. This would help you pinpoint the problems.
Pay attention to ABC
The ABCs of acoustics can help you to find the right solutions for your problems.
A: Sound Absorption – reduce the amount of sound vibrations being reflected or reverberated around the space.
B: Block sound – block the ability of sound to pass through surfaces.
C: Cover – mask sounds with other noise. This can help to make individual noises and talking unintelligible and less distracting. This can also help with privacy in call centers as it is harder to understand nearby conversations.
Source: contactspace.com
Solutions
Below are some ideas you can implement to reduce the noise in your workspace.
Alter the Layout
You should try to space people out as much as you can – particularly in a call center. This might mean changing the layout of the space or even moving some people into other rooms. Staff density will always increase the level of noise.
Another consideration is the location of office equipment – particularly noisy pieces of equipment can easily raise noise levels. If they are often used (like a noisy printer), the nearby conversation will need to rise to compensate. Try to move any equipment outside areas where noise levels are a particular issue – certainly away from a call floor. Remember that the noise might indicate a problem, too; keeping equipment maintained and fixing it promptly could go a long way to reducing the noise in your space.
Provide Other Spaces
Similar to removing noisy equipment from the space, try to remove noisy people too.
You should provide a break room for your staff to use when they are on their lunch. This allows them space to socialize with colleagues, use appliances, and so on without potentially disrupting people still at work.
You should also provide meeting spaces where any group of any size can gather. This will ensure that they do not disturb those working and that the noise of support calls or general work does not interfere with their meeting. It would also provide more privacy for the issues being discussed, particularly if you looked into soundproofing these areas.
As mentioned above, noise levels will always increase with the number of people in the space, even if you also struggle with noise from a nearby road. Allowing people to work from home a few days a week would reduce the number of physical people in the office and thus reduce the noise level.
Source: lookdigitalsignage.com
Additions
You could add various additions to your office to reduce the noise level.
- Dividers between desks – introducing dividers between desks or strategically around the space can stop the sound from traveling across the room. People will only have to contend with nearby noise, not a conversation across the room. Using fabric, foam, or cork on these dividers will increase the sound absorption level even further.
- Sound baffles – these are introduced into a space to reduce the level of sound reverberation. Instead of the noise hitting a wall and reflecting out again, it hits the baffle, which either sends it in a new direction or absorbs it.
- Soundproofing – You can be strategic in implementing soundproofing in your space, as mentioned above, focusing on meeting rooms would be beneficial. However, soundproofing also covers times like acoustic panels, which can be added onto walls to reduce the overall sound in a room. You can click here to find out more. These can also come in a decorated format so that you can still have a lovely-looking space, but the material will help to deaden the level of noise and sound reverberation within the room. Acoustic ceiling tiles are also available and do the same job.
- Carpet – it’s not as fancy as proper acoustic tiles and panels, but it has a similar outcome. Walking into a carpeted space will always be quieter and less echoey than walking into a space with linoleum flooring – it’s a quick and easy fix. If you already have carpet, look to see what condition it is in – if it’s threadbare, it might not be working how you want it to.
- Triple glazing – if your noise problems come from outside, you should look into options to reduce it. Triple glazing has the benefit of massively reducing noise from outside and, as a nice addition, will reduce your energy consumption.
Source: hushoffice.com
Change Location
This is not an easy or quick solution, but it should be considered. If noise levels in your workspace prevent people from working, cause illness, and reduce productivity, then action is needed. It may simply be that the location of your workspace is not right for your business.
Before investing in several changes and additions to reduce the noise level in your workspace, consider the cost of moving to another building.
Reducing the noise levels in your office or call center is possible, and with the wide variety of techniques and options, you are bound to find something suitable for your particular needs.
Sound is difficult to understand and control, and you will save a lot of time and effort going straight to a professional company – whether that’s for an initial assessment and advice or somewhere to get professional products that will get the job done.
