Workers, Take Off Your Headphones(blogs.hbr.org)
blogs.hbr.org
Workers, Take Off Your Headphones
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/04/workers_take_off_your_headphon.html
31 comments
As much fun as it is sharing highs and basking in the sweet glow of office gossip. It turns out you're there to do a job, the headphones help drowned out the useless stimuli generated by people existing in the same space. Unless there is an emergency, don't bother me with a time vampire method of communication.
Eroding employee loyalty? You know what erodes employee loyalty? Make up some sort of retarded policy about when they can or can't wear headphones in the office.
Headphones are part of the culture in our open-plan office. It's the equivalent of closing your office door.
I agree. I see pervasive headphone use as a sign that an office floor plan isn't making it easy for people to concentrate.
Then is it considered counterproductive or rude for an employee to always have his or her headphones on? Or do you have something like an in office chat room that everyone is expected to respond to?
Not OC, but we have an IRC chatroom, and we're all on AIM. If something is important, it's not considered rude to walk up to someone's desk and get their attention. If we're in the middle of something, we'll sort of wave you off and mutter "gimme a few minutes".
If we're really digging into something and need a few hours of uninterrupted time, we'll announce it in IRC.
If we're really digging into something and need a few hours of uninterrupted time, we'll announce it in IRC.
We're an agency that does client work so a lot of times we're each lone-wolfing a separate project and there's less need for constant communication. We do have a chat room and we're all on AIM. If you want to talk to someone who has headphones on you generally ping them on IM with "do you have a minute" before walking over to their desk.
Workers who don't actually need to concentrate on something with five people behind them yammering about something unrelated, take off your headphones.
I'd take the headphones off if I could close a door or, even better, work from home. Otherwise, I can guarantee there will be several times each day where a bunch of coworkers (and sometimes my boss) will spend considerable time talking loudly about anything but work.
That must be the valuable communication that articles like this espouse. I don't mind banter if it doesn't bother those working and if the people bantering can actually produce. That's not the case in my situation.
That must be the valuable communication that articles like this espouse. I don't mind banter if it doesn't bother those working and if the people bantering can actually produce. That's not the case in my situation.
I see no issue with wearing headphones in the workplace as long as the norm is to IM instead of talk in real life. More complicated, decision making discussions can take place outside of IM. Without headphones, offices can be extremely distracting.
I think people who have this as a mantra, lived in a time where most workers had the luxury of a real office with more sound proof walls. Even people with real offices tend to have paper thin walls when it comes to sound.
When I start a job every 2 years, I then to have my headphones off. Unfortunately the vast majority of background chatter tends to revolve around people's personal lives or just plain office gossip. Both of these things get regurgitated to me at lunch. I'd rather keep my focus. If they really want my attention, it's pretty easy to get through a variety of ways like IM.
When I start a job every 2 years, I then to have my headphones off. Unfortunately the vast majority of background chatter tends to revolve around people's personal lives or just plain office gossip. Both of these things get regurgitated to me at lunch. I'd rather keep my focus. If they really want my attention, it's pretty easy to get through a variety of ways like IM.
A colleague of mine says that it distracts her when I speak german on the phone. She can tune out english just fine, but when somebody speaks in a foreign language, she has to use headphones.
I'm with your colleague on this one. But that's because I love the german language and wish I could speak it. Besides that I can see how our brains learn to tune out english like they do ads but then when something very unique comes along it can be very hard.
> One person with whom I spoke told me that "wearing headphones actually makes me feel anxious a lot of the time, because I'm always worried that someone might ask me a question or say something to me and I'll miss it." This person is right to be concerned.
I, too, would be concerned if the person speaking to me didn't notice the giant set of headphones that I wear every day, and just mumbled something and walked off.
I, too, would be concerned if the person speaking to me didn't notice the giant set of headphones that I wear every day, and just mumbled something and walked off.
It sounds like the author is concerned about the work version of the negative social network effects of modern technology - using it to maintain lower levels of communication (no body language, etc) with people you already know while reducing your "white swan" opportunities for increasing your network via unplanned connections IRL.
If you don't have an open office plan, though, I wonder how much headphones are really cutting you off from the office network? I guess the author is referring to layouts where you use headphones to cut out excess noise around you, which wouldn't be as much of an issue in non-open plans.
I like to use headphones for background music, but I keep it on the lowest level possible so I don't miss out on external conversation when it arises. I'm not sure if it creates a negative impression when I'm talking to someone with headphones in even though I can obviously hear and understand them; I've never been made aware of any such impression but I've also never asked.
If you don't have an open office plan, though, I wonder how much headphones are really cutting you off from the office network? I guess the author is referring to layouts where you use headphones to cut out excess noise around you, which wouldn't be as much of an issue in non-open plans.
I like to use headphones for background music, but I keep it on the lowest level possible so I don't miss out on external conversation when it arises. I'm not sure if it creates a negative impression when I'm talking to someone with headphones in even though I can obviously hear and understand them; I've never been made aware of any such impression but I've also never asked.
I used to be the kind of person who couldn't work without headphones. Nowadays, I usually don't wear them unless there's a lot of noise I need to drown out or I just want to work undisturbed.
People who do use headphones all the time don't bother me though. I typically just send them an IM that they can acknowledge my question/comment on my own time.
People who do use headphones all the time don't bother me though. I typically just send them an IM that they can acknowledge my question/comment on my own time.
Company chat rooms. Then if you have to concentrate you can leave the discussion alone and catch up on it later. Also, when you are out of house, you can still follow along on the discussion "at home".
Github seems to do that, here are their chat bot: http://hubot.github.com/ but it is also a lot of fun to write your own bot with specific functionality for your company. We have had (and still have) a great experience with a chat room for group of ~20 students at our university, even though we are often located in the same room right next to each other.
Github seems to do that, here are their chat bot: http://hubot.github.com/ but it is also a lot of fun to write your own bot with specific functionality for your company. We have had (and still have) a great experience with a chat room for group of ~20 students at our university, even though we are often located in the same room right next to each other.
Everyone has a threshold beyond which they'll exercise restraint in talking based on the number of people who might overhear the conversation. It's like fear of public speaking. Today's open floor layouts and their desk densities exceed some people's comfort levels, so they shut up and take their conversations to the chat room. In general, the density and lack of privacy is too high for programmers but not high enough yet for marketing, for example.
...and sometimes music has nothing to do with drowning out distraction. Maybe it brings a little happiness to my day, stimulates a creative part if my brain that would otherwise not be engaged, and connects my work to a deeper part of my life. Any company that tries to regulate my productivity by projecting their own insecurities deserves the massive beatdown that the 21st century will give them.
A useful generalization is that tech business are divided into people who talk for a living, and people who think for a living. One side of that divide seems to have a lot of trouble understanding the legitimate needs of the other. The headphone issue is but one of many ways that lack of understanding manifests.
Not only do I wear headphones, I pump a mix of cafe sounds through it. Amazingly effective at drowning out conversation at low volume levels. BTW has the OP ever heard of "flow"? You can have 2 hours of my full attention, just don't spread it throughout the day if you want me to crank stuff out.
Hell no.
There may be professions where being accessible at all times is more important than being able to drown out the world and concentrate, but programming is not one of them.
Communication is important too, but when you need to concentrate headphones are invaluable (unless you have a private office)
Communication is important too, but when you need to concentrate headphones are invaluable (unless you have a private office)
"Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration." - Don Knuth
-high switching cost for refocusing after being distracted
-measured by "heads-down" work
-individual deliverables are the primary contribution, secondary is collaboration
-values efficiency
-relies more on individual creativity than collaborated ideas
-prefers to be valued by merit as opposed to political/social leverage
-views headphones as a polite way to signal "I'm working"
Pointy Hair Boss:
-low switching cost for refocusing
-measured by team goals
-primary job is organization & collaboration
-values perception of value over actual value
-relies on others to be productive
-their values are increased from coworker interaction/meetings
-views headphones as a signal for "anti-social luddite who will never advance"