Noise in offices painfully reduces efficiency

Leesman World Report identifies noise as one of the main causes of discomfort at work. In new offices, only 33 percent of employees are satisfied with the level of ambient noise, while for 74 percent  this aspect is crucial. Acoustic adaptation of space can help.

Today, with returns to school and the new wave of the pandemic, the problem of noise at work is becoming urgent. Due to the large number of teleconferences, many of them must take place in open space. As a result, places originally intended for working in silence do not fulfill their role. The result is stress and concentration problems for employees.

“Open space offices are often designed in such a way as to allow employees to perform only quiet tasks there. They are too little soundproofed – hard surfaces such as reinforced concrete or glass dominate. The noise bounces off ceilings and walls, bypasses upholstered walls and spreads throughout the open space. If you want to increase the flexibility of an office, it is worth taking a closer look at these spaces in the first place," Magda Szubert, an expert in the field of acoustic comfort in the office from Ecophon, said

The Leesman Index report, The Workplace Experience Revolution, was entirely devoted to examining how new offices respond to employee needs. 533 organizations, ranging from Asia, the USA, to Europe, employing a total of 84,200 people were analyzed. Researchers have observed that the relationship between open space and the cabinet layout in new offices does not favor the individual need for concentration among employees. It was surprising that among the new offices, only 41 percent of workplaces recorded a positive efficiency index – Leesman Lmi – of over 70 points. Another 40 percent were in the aspiring group, for which companies that support work in concentration, but do not stimulate teamwork (Leesman Lmi 60-69.9), qualify.

(WBJ)