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Music in the office

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    Music in the office

    I wonder whether I can have the opinion of the congregation on this one please:

    I arrived in the office of my current client today to find four loud speakers at each corner of the open plan office, playing pop music at a fairly low volume, but definitely audible. George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Elton John etc. I found this made it much harder to concentrate on the coding and investigation tasks I was working on, so much so that I told the guy playing it in no uncertain terms that I couldn't work with this racket, and please turn it off now.
    Which to be fair to him he did.

    But it turns out it is a new official company policy, supported by the chief executive after several members of staff requested it.

    Tomorrow I'll make myself known to this gentleman, and say that I expect staff productivity will be likely to drop for many people, and that this is therefore not a risk worth taking.

    The question is, am I right?

    Have any of you ever worked in an office with piped music? I must have worked in around 50 offices over the years, and this is a first.

    Yes of course I can put in headphones, but that doesn't really solve the problem, for me.

    Thanks,

    #2
    I'm usually too busy to notice.
    'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by GJABS View Post
      I wonder whether I can have the opinion of the congregation on this one please:

      I arrived in the office of my current client today to find four loud speakers at each corner of the open plan office, playing pop music at a fairly low volume, but definitely audible. George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Elton John etc. I found this made it much harder to concentrate on the coding and investigation tasks I was working on, so much so that I told the guy playing it in no uncertain terms that I couldn't work with this racket, and please turn it off now.
      Which to be fair to him he did.

      But it turns out it is a new official company policy, supported by the chief executive after several members of staff requested it.

      Tomorrow I'll make myself known to this gentleman, and say that I expect staff productivity will be likely to drop for many people, and that this is therefore not a risk worth taking.

      The question is, am I right?

      Have any of you ever worked in an office with piped music? I must have worked in around 50 offices over the years, and this is a first.

      Yes of course I can put in headphones, but that doesn't really solve the problem, for me.

      Thanks,
      Noise cancelling headphones?

      Comment


        #4
        One gig I had was in an office attached to a warehouse and they had Radio 2 on all day. Drove me potty.

        If my client wants to implement that kind of nonsense, then so be it. I will look to WFH as much as possible or get noise cancelling headphones if it gets too distracting.

        Comment


          #5
          George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Elton John
          Jesus wept.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by northernladyuk View Post
            Noise cancelling headphones?
            When I last looked into these, it turns out they are good at cancelling white noise, such as in an aricraft, but bad at cancelling voice.
            I'm not sure how they'll do against music and singing voice - any thoughts?

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by GJABS View Post

              Have any of you ever worked in an office with piped music? I must have worked in around 50 offices over the years, and this is a first.
              Yes, a client I had in Guernsey used to have Radio 1 playing all day long.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by GJABS View Post
                When I last looked into these, it turns out they are good at cancelling white noise, such as in an aricraft, but bad at cancelling voice.
                I'm not sure how they'll do against music and singing voice - any thoughts?
                And railway platform announcements

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by GJABS View Post
                  I wonder whether I can have the opinion of the congregation on this one please:

                  I arrived in the office of my current client today to find four loud speakers at each corner of the open plan office, playing pop music at a fairly low volume, but definitely audible. George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Elton John etc. I found this made it much harder to concentrate on the coding and investigation tasks I was working on, so much so that I told the guy playing it in no uncertain terms that I couldn't work with this racket, and please turn it off now.
                  Which to be fair to him he did.

                  But it turns out it is a new official company policy, supported by the chief executive after several members of staff requested it.

                  Tomorrow I'll make myself known to this gentleman, and say that I expect staff productivity will be likely to drop for many people, and that this is therefore not a risk worth taking.

                  The question is, am I right?
                  Nope

                  Originally posted by GJABS View Post
                  Have any of you ever worked in an office with piped music? I must have worked in around 50 offices over the years, and this is a first.
                  Yes I've worked in plenty of offices that have played music. As long as people don't have play extremes it's OK as I don't hear it.

                  In fact if you don't like the music you can:
                  1. Grass the company up to linky
                  2. Buy or borrow a couple of CDs of death metal, punk or anything else in any other genre you know is not calming. Then put the music on. It's better if it's downloads so it's a weird mix.
                  "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I once worked in an office where they played this:

                    Brexit is having a wee in the middle of the room at a house party because nobody is talking to you, and then complaining about the smell.

                    Comment

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