With all this noise, it\u2019s a wonder we can concentrate; and in fact, employee inability to focus due to noise is a problem for companies from small businesses to large enterprises. Noise and speech privacy are the biggest complaints of office workers, according to a study<\/a><\/strong> conducted by the University of California, Berkeley\u2019s Center for the Built Environment. Harvard Business Review reports in \u201cNoise at the Office: How to Cope\u201d<\/a><\/strong> that research indicates that office noise disrupts concentration, decreases productivity and increases stress.<\/p>\n Nowhere is workplace noise more of a problem than in today\u2019s open-space office environments. While the absence of walls aimed to encourage and facilitate collaboration, open-space offices are in fact proving to do just the opposite. They have had the unintended consequence of decreasing the ability to focus. And ironically, as the open-space office has grown in popularity, collaboration has become less likely. The past five years have seen collaboration decrease by 20 percent, reports a Gensler 2013 Workspace Study<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n With today\u2019s mobile devices and apps,<\/a><\/strong> you and your small business team can work anywhere. However, working outside the office introduces more variable, unpredictable background noises. Try working in a coffee shop or airport lounge and see how much peace and quiet you get. Furthermore, while many of your team may work all or part of the week from home where they may have to contend with noise from tree trimmers down the street or a neighbor building a deck.<\/p>\n Sometimes work requires spending time on site at a customer or client, where you have no control over your environment. This was a problem for Pariveda Solutions<\/a><\/strong>, an IT company in Dallas, whose consultants work on site during project implementations. Each site poses different challenges for consultants in terms of privacy and noise interference when making calls or participating in conference calls.<\/p>\n Since open-space offices are not going away; and employees want flexible and mobile work arrangements, your small business needs to provide solutions to enable your team to thrive in these new work environments. In the office, consider creating spaces where employees can conduct a call or meet to conference without surrounding noise and distractions. Spiceworks, the IT social business network, for example, created private call booths <\/a><\/strong>so that its sales and account reps who worked in a \u201cclassic sales pit\u201d had a quiet place to go when they were on a call.<\/p>\n In noisy situations both in and out of the office, a headset can help to cancel out background noise, create your own private space enabling you to enjoy your preferred sounds and ensure audio clarity on a call. Among Plantronics offerings is the recently announced Voyager Focus UC Bluetooth headset.<\/a><\/strong> It enables your employees to move seamlessly between PC and smartphone calls and between work and entertainment. The new headset features on-demand Active Noise Canceling (ANC) so users can focus on calls or work and precision tuned triple-mic with enhanced DSP for superior background noise cancelling.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to let noise get the best of your small business. Work with your team to come up with a sound solution.<\/p>\nEveryone can \u2018hear you now\u2019 in the open office<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Can\u2019t escape noise on the go<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Keeping noise under control<\/strong><\/h5>\n
![\"Neil](\"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Neil-Hooper-Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-Headset-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n