SILENCE – the new KPI for the office?
(Photo credit: https://bit.ly/1S2wtQU)
Rumours run around offices all the time on what the boss is looking for so that everyone is engaged when he or she is around. Come on, be honest, what you do alone or with your colleagues not related to the business is considered suspect, and if the boss is like an old school teacher and finds out, they will demand silence, no one speak, there is just too much fun going on here and not enough work.
But let’s take a step back here. Some of you know the limits of what is just good jolly collegial banter, and straight out crossing the line. The boss knows that too, and understands full well that things do have to get done no matter what.
So what does this mean? Silence to new KPI? Well research has shown that there is new evidence that in fact people do work better on the whole when there are gaps of silence throughout the day. The old days of the teenager doing their homework with the stereo pounding through his head, and saying they perform better in noise rather than without it, are gone! (And most of us would agree, if you really want to concentrate, silence is the key).
The same now is being implemented in some work places, they don’t say ‘imposed’, they would prefer to say implemented because it is not the only thing that matters of course, and people do need to know that it is for the benefit of all, not a punishment.
The results in fact have shown a considerable increase in quality performance of the individual.
These days with open plan working spaces (also known as ‘neighbourhoods’…) which have a lot of positives, do have some negatives too, noisy neighbours, and most people don’t like living next to noisy neighbours. The same is prevalent in the workplace.
How employers are supposed to ‘implement’ this I’m not sure, maybe they need to put a ‘quiet room’ in their office, just so that it is a place where people can go for 10 minutes to get out of the buzz and regroup their thoughts. This ‘quiet room’ shouldn’t be confused with ‘break time’, this space is for absolute silence for all. There maybe 3-5 people sitting in there silently just thinking, relaxing, but not sleeping….of course. These rooms could be very beneficial for those who need that ten minutes to take that breath back. I’m assuming if you can get that in your own ‘neighbourhood’ that’s even better because the team obviously respect that quiet time is important for everyone’s focus too.
So what do you think? Do you perform better in a quiet place or are you someone who thrives on the buzz?