Offering your employees a working environment that is comfortable and productive should be the top priority for any business that wants to see success and growth and with that being said, the acoustics in your office can play a bigger part than you may have first thought in creating an office space fit for purpose and of benefit to your employees.

We are taking a look at why having good office acoustics is so important and how improving your office design to enhance the positive acoustics can make a huge difference to the happiness and health of your employees.

What happens when you have bad acoustics in your office?

Offices are generally busy and any business that is working to be successful will have a number of different people completing a number of different jobs, this accumulation of people doing their bit can create bad acoustics in the office if your design isn’t fit for the atmosphere created.

Many modern offices have switched to an open plan, free flowing design that can be a nightmare for employees who are easily distracted or struggle to work in noisy environments, with people taking phone calls, collaboratively working and moving around the office it can quickly become very loud and drive employees to distraction.

Poor acoustics can cause a number of different issues for employees including low productivity levels, increased stress levels, reduction in concentration and high staff turnover.

How to improve your acoustics in your office?

Despite the amount of problems that poor acoustics can cause, there are luckily many ways for you to reduce the distractions and loud, stressful environments that will improve your employee’s sense of well being and productivity in the long run.

  • Flooring – Hard flooring can add more annoying noise levels especially if you have heavy traffic on your office floor over the course of the day, using soft materials like carpet can reduce the noise pollution that hard flooring can create.
  • Soft furnishings – Like flooring opting for soft furnishings can create a much more welcoming and high functioning environment as they absorb noise much better than hard covered furniture, as well as giving your office design a warmer touch.
  • Partitions – A great way to reduce the noise levels in your office is by using partitions to separate different areas of the space, partitions come in all shapes, sizes and materials to suit your business and your office design.
  • Create zones – Modern offices often promote collaborative working which is great for creating high quality work, but not all employees thrive in collaboration so combining those collaborative spaces with zones specifically designed to be quieter and more individually focused will help you to manage the noise pollution across the office.

If you are looking to improve your office acoustics by incorporating office furniture or opting for a new design, Paradigm Office Interiors can help you design a better working environment for your employees and offer furniture solutions that can add depth to your office.