Have you considered how sound travels throughout your office space?
Keeping every corner of your workspace in harmony can be a challenging task. With how busy your employees can get, there’s no limit to how many different type of sounds can go zooming across your work environment. Between conversations, phone alerts, and the ping-pang of people typing on keyboards, it’s easy for people to get distracted. And while it’s easy to throw on a pair of cans and tune the whole world out, sometimes that isn’t the most practical solution. One alternative is to create an office with an acoustic design.
Designing an Acoustic Office Plan
An acoustic office plan involves creating a layout that can influence the space’s acoustics. It’s important to consider that secondary sounds that can be “understood” rather than simply heard are what people find to be most distracting. The idea behind an acoustic office plan is to use way sound flows to the advantage of your team. For example, pillars, columns, and wall dividers could be positioned in ways to naturally manipulate the acoustics. How sound flows through your space can also give you a good idea of where to place particular team members.
Acoustic Office Furniture
As open office designs become more and more popular, investing in acoustic furniture is a smart way to cope with ambient noise. This kind of furniture absorbs sounds rather than reflects them. The reflection of sound off hard surfaces is called reverberation, and is what drives people crazy when they’re trying to concentrate. Acoustic furniture that abates nearby sounds allows multiple team members to work together quietly without having an entire space dedicated to them. It can also enable employees to retreat to an area where they can concentrate without being disturbed.
Better Productivity and Employee Well-Being
Poor office design can have a huge impact on productivity. Overall, companies that get creative and invest more into their office design tend to see an increase in satisfaction and productivity from their workforce. And while traditional office layouts have never been best for employee health, modern office design involves more considerations than an open layout.
Office Furniture from Glover Furniture
Looking to create a better office? Glover Furniture can help. Glover Furniture and Design Group is a woman-owned and operated business that serves the Delmarva region with educational, institutional, and commercial furniture and design services. For information on how we can optimize your office design, give us a call at 1-800-966-9016 or contact us online. To see examples of our work and stay in touch, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.