I know that most companies nowadays allow playing music during office hours. However, I went to an office for a corporate visit and I've noticed that there was no music whatsoever. It felt and it sounded awkward to me. I've always preferred an office with some music in the background. How about you? What's your take on this?
That's strange that there was nothing at all, even light, contemporary music? I think that would make me feel a little awkward as well...we're just so used to having it. I prefer some music as well. It doesn't need to be loud or invasive or anything, just enough to add a little something to the background.
I also prefer to have music playing softly in the background. I suppose it also depends on the work situation, what type of work the company does etc. For instance, in a contact/call centre where you need maximum concentration, it may be more of a distraction than a soothing mechanism. Where I used to work, we had no music whatsoever; it just wasn't even an option. However, management bent the rules a little during events such as the Commonwealth games and the World cup...we'd have TV screens streaming the live feed but obviously without the audio. I know that another department within the company where they quality assured exam materials was deathly quiet AT ALL times, for obvious reasons. I couldn't work there.
For me it all depends on the type of music that is played. If it is something highly stimulating, then I usually feel too distracted. At the same time, if it's "elevator music" or some inane corporate jingle, I tend to get irritated. So, I prefer silence, or the sound of running water. At home, I work best with no music at all. But then I can choose how many hours I like to work. I can switch off the screen, do something else, and then return to work a few hours later. In a business office, I would need some kind of relaxation if I am forced to work all day in it.
I prefer music playing softly in the background especially instrumental or a song that is being played in piano. Sometimes when I get distracted, I turn it off. At work, music is not allowed in the production area because our work entails a lot of concentration. We are only allowed to hear music during our breaks.
I prefer to have some light music in the back ground. I recently worked an assignment where there was no music in the lobby where there were a lot of people waiting, a few days later there was music, it did make the waiting area more pleasant. I have music with me on my phone most of the time.
I use to work in an office, but I didn't work there long enough to have earned that kind of thing - playing music whilst I work. I was just a temp worker, and too busy listening to the things that the higher ups wanted me to do to be listening to music, or you know... having or enjoying myself. I work at home at the moment, and I sometimes listen to music when I am working. Other times I will listen to reviews for the shows that I watch on Youtube.
We're allowed to listen to whatever we want as long as we keep to using headphones. We're a pretty open concept office, so any sort of loud music will easily disturb our neighbours. That being said, on game days we'll have our local hockey team on the big screen that's mounted up high so everyone can watch/listen to the game if it's on during our work hours. It's a pretty decent setup!
I find music to be distracting. So if I enter an office and hear some music playing then first thing I'll imagine is that there's little productive work being done. But people are different. I realize at times when playing music and reading say a book, I could get so engrossed in the story that after sometime I'd stop hearing the music [no lie]. But if some people work better when there's some music playing then I don't see any reason why they shouldn't have it. Where I worked though, there was no music.
Have you ever tried working with music that's purely instrumental? I find that I can't really work well when the music has lyrics or an overly strong beat, but with something that lacks vocals I can concentrate without too much issue. Alternatively, I like the white noise provided by something like rainymood.com, which just plays a long loop of rainfall sound. It's actually incredibly relaxing to have the white noise in the background while working.
Honestly we have just began to play music in our office and I will tell you that music really adds to the atmosphere. Most of the year we normally do not have music, but now seeing that it is around Christmas time we are now beginning to play a bit more music for the customers.
Perhaps in a normal office setting, music is a welcome respite as it reduces the feeling of monotony and boredom. However, it's difficult for other companies such as those that handle customer service and other business process functions to loosen up and just take it easy. Many process outsourcing and manufacturing firms operate stiffly and have rigorous QA standards.
Having music playing over speakers doesn't work for every environment, no, but for the typical office setup I really see no reason why music over headphones would be a problem. I guess this assumes that the worker is able to still hear incoming phone calls and be able to turn it off and pick it up quickly, but otherwise I really see no problem with it. All of my prior employers (in an office setting) haven't had issues with music.
Back when I used to work in an office we never played any background music either. I think it was more appropriate for the industry we see in since we had to be as professional as possible but it wasn't totally strict so we still had a but of freedom. Also we were free to listen to our own music by use of earphones anyway as long as it didn't interfere with our work.
I feel like if you have a simple office job, or have been doing a particular office job for years - and can operate on auto pilot - then there is no reason why listening to music should be disallowed. For example, if you have a simply date entry job, or if you sit in an office all day sorting documents out, or ordering them, then there should be no reason why music shouldn't be allowed. I used to wear my mp3, but have the volume turned very low so that I could hear if anyone needed me.
I have to have background noise when I'm working. Whether it is music, white noise (waves crashing at the beach) or something along those lines, I need to have that to maintain focus. I was meeting with a colleague recently in their office and we worked in complete sentences for about two hours and it was in complete silence! It was very awkward to me and I didn't say anything because this person is higher in the food chain than I am so I let it go. Headphones are great or if you are lucky enough to have your own office, close the door and turn on some tunes. I have a SiriusXM subscription and some classical or light jazz is great to listen to while working during the day.
When I had an office job I LOVED listening to music while I worked. I feel like the music that you listen to says a little bit about you in a way, kind of like giving you some character. If I go into an office with no music, I just feel like everyone are like robots and that the company is super cooperate. I wouldn't like working in that office very much.
I'd rather really have my office in complete silence because I'm the kind who can't just work with so much destruction. It's never easy for me to focus. It's often really hard, and when I'm able the surroundings must have to be conducive. It has to be cooperative. It must be inviting for me that I keep my attention to only one thing and that is to my job. Music is really a destruction to me, when there is a music that is being played, I stop whatever I do and no matter how hard I try to focus at it, I just can't. I would eventually find myself wandering and savouring the music that's being played in the background.
I've only worked in three office environments since I graduated from college 14 years ago - one small business I was part owner of with a handful of other people, and the other two were large national companies in the US. At the company I was part owner of, we worked out of what was formerly a doctors office, so it was relatively small. We didn't have any music playing throughout the whole office, but each of us had our radios on in our individual office spaces, so we weren't really bothering each other. Often times I just wore headphones to make sure I wasn't annoying anyone else. At the other two companies, in the publicly accessible areas for visitors, there would instead be televisions broadcasting the news which provided some "noise" throughout the place, instead of the type of music you hear in department stores. But in the work areas where all the employees were, there was no music being played over the speakers. Everyone just wore headphones when they wanted to listen to music. Personally I am not in favor of a workplace forcing me to listen to some predefined playlist of music all day. I've worked in restaurants where they did this and it drove me up a wall because you had to keep listening to the same few songs over and over again.
I don't like outter music playing when I'm working. I do like listening to music while working when it's on my own terms - I listen to them on my ear phones when I want and choose what music I want. If my office had music all the time and I had to listen to it I would get really annoyed.