Some offices allow their employees to listen to music whilst they work. Others don’t. I most instances, the decision of whether to allow employees to listen to music or not is quite clearly determined by their job role alone – a call centre, for example, would be unproductive place to listen to music. Other roles/offices are less obvious, and often boil down to the gut feeling of a manager.
On the one hand, there’s an argument that music can help us focus, block out distractions and be more creative in our work. On the other hand, there’s cause for concern that music is simply just another distraction on top of all the other workplace goings on that detract from actually getting work done. In their own way, both are somewhat true.
The rise of open offices is a great example of how music can both hinder and help in a workplace environment. They’re designed to increase collaboration and communication between co-workers, allowing colleagues to simply pop their head over their screen and chat to their entire team, although, sometimes they have the opposite effect entirely, with people people donning their earphones in an attempt to try and drown out the sound of their noisy office surroundings for the sweet lull of their favourite soundtrack. The very act of blocking out the racket of a busy office also results in nobody being able to be easily contacted within the office, questioning the very benefit of having an open office in the first place.
Does music have a place in the modern workplace, or is it simply something we all think we need to concentrate, but actually stunts our ability from 9-5?
Music for the mundane
Pushing aside the creative and thought-intensive tasks that take up a large portion of our working days, we’re left with the mundane tasks that we all have to tackle at some point; replying to emails, various forms of repetitive data entry and more…
Studies have shown that for tasks like these, music is often effective in increasing output. The more repetitive the task is, the greater the effect music has on our ability to power through it without feeling the effects of boredom, fatigue or distraction.
Some studies go beyond the idea that music alone helps with more mundane tasks, and claim that it is in fact the mood of the music that plays the main role in increasing productivity, citing that music in the major mode led to greater productivity. This lends itself nicely to the assumption that what the study is alluding to is that being happy makes you more productive and efficient, which makes sense in a logical way.
Music for learning
As you stepping away from the repetition of data entry, and branch out into the realm of real learning, music may not be quite as comforting and helpful for absorbing and retaining information.
When we’re trying to learn something new, or absorb new information, any form of distraction is unhelpful, and this is especially true with music. No matter how subtle, quiet or instrumental the music is – humans aren’t as good at multitasking as we like to think – and so, with this in mind, challenging your brain to register the sounds and rhythm of music, whilst simultaneously expecting it to focus on a complex task is a recipe for disaster.
‘Music’ for the noisy office
Using music to drown out the sounds of a noisy office, sirens outside, or the distracting sniffle of a cold-ridden co-worker can be very effective, but also easily leave you vulnerable to blocking yourself off from the outside world, of which you are part of, and being paid to be in.
There’s also the problem of being on the flip side to this dilemma, where you have to try and capture the attention of a co-worker who is plugged in, with the volume ramped up. You’ll know it’s an embarrassing tirade of hand-waving, stress ball throwing and shouting. There’s a middle ground with this, however, and that is ambient noise…
Ambiance
The solution to this problem could very well be a personally curated version of the original problem; Ambient noise.
Ambient noise works well for concentration because it finds a line between a deafening, awkward, silence, and a noisy and distracting environment. Of course, ambient noise needs to be all roughly the same volume, with a similar tone, for it to not be distracting. The dropping of a plate or a co-worker sneezing would very quickly snap you out of your concentration, which is why many people are turning to music or soundscapes to create their own artificial ambient noise.
Sites like Noisli allow people to create their own ambient sounds, allowing users to add in the sound of wind, rain, trees, forests, rivers, campfires, streams, train tracks, white noise and more. The rise of these soundscapes, along with more ambient music for concentrating at work is testament to their effectiveness at being immersive, yet not exclusive to the outside world.
The perfect sound
There’s no one song, sound or playlist that can miraculously help you focus or boost your creativity, but there are certain factors that you should know about, should you choose to go down the route of using music to aid your workday.
When you’re setting up your music, be wary of the following factors:
Volume
The volume of your music should be loud enough so that you can hear it, but quiet enough so that you can hear the ambient buzz of your office, or at least the faint clatter of your keyboard. Music that’s too loud will not only make you unreachable, but also distract you every time an especially high or low sounding section kicks in. You almost want to forget the music is even playing – it shouldn’t be there to entertain you, as such.
Lyrics
Lyrics have their place in the workplace. For the mundane tasks, being able to throw on a feel-good track can help to boost your mood and aid you in completing a task…
For anything that requires a little more concentration or creativity, however, lyrics are a definite no-go. Lyrics activate the language centre of our brain and put our brain into competition mode between listening and processing the lyrics we’re hearing, and focusing on completing the task at hand. Do yourself a favour and throw on some Nils Frahm instead of Katy Perry.
Fresh or favourites?
Favourites.
If you need to focus, putting on a collection of music that you’re familiar with and already know well can help you to crack on with the task, without being surprised by the unpredictability of new music. Contrary to popular belief, music you’re already familiar with not lure you into distraction, but instead allow your mind to slip into autopilot, since it doesn’t need to process, understand or be taken by surprise by any musical surprises. Also, it takes the focus off of discovering new artists and throwing them into your playlist, which we’re all guilty of doing, and onto the task t hand.
There’s no right or wrong answer to how music affects how we work. For some offices, people, environments or scenarios, it can be a saviour – in others, it could be the worst thing for you. Experiment with different sounds, locations, times and tracks to see what works for you.
There’s no right or wrong answer to how music affects how we work. For some offices, people, environments or scenarios, it can be a saviour – in others, it could be the worst thing for you. Experiment with different sounds, locations, times and tracks to see what works for you.
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