When it comes to Kent and London office space noise can be an annoyance for many people. In fact, we know through surveys that noise can be one of the biggest bugbears in the office.
Noise At Work Surveys
According to Remark’s “Noise and Wellbeing at Work 2019” survey of the1,000 UK-based office workers who were surveyed, 65% of those who responded said that noise stopped them from completing work accurately and on time. 44% said that noise negatively impacted their overall wellbeing, and 40% reported that noise at work caused them to be stressed.
Environmental psychologist and workplace strategist Dr Nigel Oseland who supported the survey says, “Remark’s research shows that noise is the biggest cause of dissatisfaction in the modern workplace, along with an associated loss of performance, increases stress and poorer wellbeing.” He went onto say “As more companies are adopting open plan design and agile working, the core challenge to the workplace community, designers and suppliers is to resolve office noise distraction and enhance focussed work, whilst maintaining collaborative and creative environments. Remark’s research and services contribute to providing the solution.”
In a survey by Oscar Acoustics “Noise Annoys” of 2,000 office workers 59% said they worked in a loud environment. Only 22% thought their workplace was “well designed to help mitigate noise levels”, 50% of respondents said that their productivity was impacted by noise and 44% said they were unable to concentrate at work.
The survey also found that London had the biggest noise problem with 37% of Londoners saying they work in a very noisy environment when compared to a national average of 18%.
Ben Hancock, Manging Director of Oscar Acoustics says “We’ve always known about the dangers of noise pollution, however for many it’s just not visible enough. Hopefully these findings will quantify the threat for people and drive home the importance, showing that it’s becoming harder and harder to avoid excessive and sometimes dangerous noise at work. London has become a ‘sonic battleground’.”
Poly, part of the HP group which develops communication technology surveyed 7,261 hybrid workers including 2000 UK workers and found that 60% of employees could no longer cope with office noise.
The survey found that “noise was be a particular hot button for returning workers, with the potential to cause friction between workers” with 56% saying that they were concerned that that noise levels in the office would make them less productive, 42% worried they would be prone to “noise rage” if their colleagues are too loud, 60% believe they’d get annoyed if their co-workers broke their concentration and 40% feared they’d be more prone to outbursts in the office now they’re unable to mute themselves or turn their cameras off.”
Scientific Evidence of The Impact of Noise In The Office
Not only is noise an annoyance science has shown that noise can also have a detrimental impact on staff health, wellbeing and productivity.
A National Library of Medicine paper on “Possible health effects of noise induced cortisol increase” found that “noise causes the release of different stress hormones (e.g. corticotropin releasing hormone: CRH; adrenocorticotropic hormone: ACTH).” The paper goes onto say that “The effects of… an increase of cortisol, are manifold: immuno suppression (e.g. eosinopenia), insulin resistance (e.g. diabetes), cardiovascular diseases (e.g. hypertension and arteriosclerosis), catabolism (e.g. ostoeporosis), intestinal problems (e.g. stress ulcer) etc. Even worse may be the widespread extrahypothalamical effects of CRH/and/or ACTH which have the potential to influence nearly all regulatory systems, causing for example stress-dysmenorrhea etc. as signs of disturbed hormonal balance.”
A paper published in The British Journal of Psychology called “Disruption of office-related tasks by speech and office noise” looked at the impact of background noise on workers in open plan offices and found that “both speech and office noise can disrupt performance on memory for prose and mental arithmetic tasks.”
In a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology “Stress and open-office noise” even low level noise in open style offices resulted in higher stress levels and a decrease in motivation. The study also found that workers made less ergonomic adjustments to their workstations in comparison to quiet offices. The study concluded that “even moderately noisy open offices might contribute significantly to health problems such as heart disease (due to elevated levels of epinephrine, a stress hormone) and musculoskeletal problems.”
Gary Evans, professor of design and environmental analysis, Cornell University explains “Whereas previous studies have looked at the effects of high-intensity noise, our study is one of the few to look at low-intensity noise. Yet our findings resemble those in studies of very noisy environments in that we found that realistic, open-office noise has modest but adverse effects on physiological stress and motivation.”
How An Office Refurbishment Can Reduce Office Noise
Fortunately, there are a number of ways that an office refurbishment can help to combat noise within an office space, some of which are outlined below.
Consider “zoning” your office layout into separate areas. Moving meeting rooms, meeting areas, bathrooms, kitchens, and break areas well way away from other work areas will help cut down on office noise and minimise the impact on quieter office areas.
Consider the placement and spacing of workstations as placing staff desks directly in line of sight allows sound to travel in a direct path.
Suspended or drop ceilings are effective at absorbing noise and will help to reduce reverberation and prevent sound from travelling to adjacent areas. Acoustic screens, partition walls, panels and dividers can also act as noise barriers which can absorb unwanted noise and prevent it from passing through rooms. Where a lack of light is an issue double glazed panels can allow light through and block noise.
Plants can also play an important role as noise barriers. The leaves, branches and stems of plants absorb, deflect and refract sound.
Using carpet on floors, rather than tiles can reduce ‘footfall’ noise as carpets soften and absorb sounds making for a quieter environment.
It’s important to bear in mind that when it comes to tackling noise issues ceilings, walls and flooring should to be considered as a whole as mitigating one element is unlikely to work well in isolation.
JBH Refurbishments, Experts In Office Design and Refurbishment
JBH Refurbishments have over 30+ years experience in office design, office refurbishment and fit outs including knowing how to minimise the impact of office noise. We can advise on all aspects of your Kent or London office refurbishment. We carry out refurbishments to the highest standards. We can provide the right expertise for your project. Contact us via our contact form or by calling us on 0333 207 0339 today for a free on-site consultation.