As working with bigger teams is fun yet a difficult task in order to manage the commotion. Working with collaboration surely helps in monitoring but also, provokes unwanted noise.
What kinds of distractions do one face at the workplace?
- Noise Pollution – Distractions from phone or digital distractions as they are called. This is distracting if you are doing some important work. It’s easy to get distracted by the hum and ping of alerts. Some colleagues even use keypad sound so that when they are typing something on what’s an app, or generally an SMS it does distract. Add to it all the caller tunes, from songs to music. Then machines like photocopiers and faxes if placed nearby are disturbing.
- Noisy colleagues. If you are sitting in a team room with colleagues who like to chit-chat then this can be pretty disruptive to your work. Sometimes a colleague will come over to the person sitting next to you and start discussing an issue. This affects concentration.
- Team Friction – When too many teams are in the same place then friction is bound to happen. It’s fun to be able to meet a lot of new people and collaborate, but at the same time each company/ team has its own work, projects to focus on, and work culture.
- Managing Memberships – Many co-working places are like gym’s and the memberships are more than the actual seating capacity. This can result in overcrowding and a negative co-working experience for the member. The solution to this is to have a good managing system that monitors the entry and exit of members, timings and provides analytics in order to manage inflow and outflow well and regulate memberships accordingly.
- Insufficient office equipment – A centralized printer for example can result in many members coming up to the printer area to get their prints resulting in overcrowding at that place. A solution could be to provide each floor with a printer. Insufficient conference and meeting rooms make members lose productivity and get distracted. Co-working spaces should work out sufficient rooms for meetings and work on a pre-booking system for conference rooms. Limited kitchen equipment is another hurdle to having a good co-working experience.
- Lack of Privacy – This is a major distraction for co-working spaces and even in the case of customized offices. Phone booths and Pods could be the solution. This reduces noise as well as allows the member to discuss personal matters over the phone.
How to reduce intrusion in office space?
One can add the below-mentioned resolutions in their working schedule to get rid of a clamorous environment. If it may not help in stopping the noise completely then it will definitely help you to control it.
- Noise-canceling equipment: Thanks to technology! In order to negotiate with unwanted disturbance, one can use headphones and continue with their meetings. It has often resulted in driving efficiency, improves focus, and maintains productivity.
- Acceptable decorum: Making and also enforcing etiquette rules will help in overcoming issues with noise pollution. These rules will vary from co-working site to co-working site. This could mean keeping phones on silent or talking in designated areas.
- Embrace the props: Artificial barriers could be put in between to absorb noise. Likewise, natural barriers like plants could help in focusing on one’s work. Soundproof cloth partitions in between two or more work-stations also aid with building concentration.
- Gadget optimization: The use of earplugs, keeping a phone on silent mode can also be an effective way to be able to focus on one’s work and cutout external chaos and notification buzz.
- Team Sensitivity: Team friction can be reduced by having flexible seating solutions so easily seats can be rearranged to avoid friction and give each team space to manage its business with a modicum of privacy. Furthermore, meeting rooms, conference rooms, and breakout areas also provide a place for getting together and concentrating on specific tasks. Many co-working companies nowadays have spacious coffee shops where one can comfortably sit and do work.
