Headphones – Tuning in or Zoning Out
Elaine offers insight into using headphones in the work environment
Q: Call me old-fashioned, but it really irks me to see so many of my coworkers with headphones in or glued to their phones during work hours. To me, it seems like they’re not really focusing on their work. Am I just behind the times or does something need to be done?A:
As with many workforce issues, it depends. In many organizations, wearing headphones is totally acceptable for the work being done. Some people wear headphones to block out noise if they’re in an open work space. Many younger workers—Millennials and the upcoming Gen Z— learned to focus and do their work with quiet music playing in the background. They’re very used to having light distractions in the background, whether it’s the TV or Spotify. People might be plugged in for a lot of different reasons, so we should avoid making snap judgments about their work ethic.
If you talk to most managers, however, regardless of generation, their concern is accuracy. Brain studies have repeatedly shown that multi-tasking at full capacity is a fallacy. When attempting to multi-task, one or the other activity suffers. Many people may say that they can successfully multi-task, but it has largely been proven that it is not an effective approach to work. You haven’t identified what your role is in the situation. If you are a manager, it is absolutely your call to decide what you want your culture to look like to clients and whether you believe that accurate work can be done, whether your employees are listening to sports radio or Beyoncé. If you think the work can be done accurately under these conditions, great! If not, it is well within your rights to clarify that it is simply not part of your workplace culture. And keep in mind that this isn’t a new issue: back when the Walkman first came out, that was the big deal in the workplace. As a manager, you just have to figure out where you stand and where your desired culture fits within the larger organization’s culture.
Interacting with technology in other ways—checking phones for text messages, scouring emails for the next holiday deal, or streaming content—has also become much more common in the workplace. This type of behavior is so second nature to us now that we hardly notice it and think of it as harmless. But we need to consider how this affects the business, and it comes back to the ineffectiveness of multi-tasking. With one eye on your streaming content, are you increasing the chance of inaccuracies in your work (not to mention slowing your organization’s tech speed)? Is it helping the business to be checking your personal email? Does having your phone by your side at all times affect your ability to build and develop relationships or focus on a speaker at a presentation? You wouldn’t want your nurse or lawyer or Uber driver to direct all their attention to their phones, so you should keep it to a minimum, too. There is a time and a place to be on your phone: your lunch break.
So, while the answer to this issue depends on your specific company’s culture, it all boils down to productivity. Some offices have employees lined up on picnic benches with their laptops in big open office spaces, and it increases employee productivity to have headphones in. In other environments, similar behavior would be giant distraction, making it harder and more time-consuming for employees to refocus on their work. Consider your organization’s culture before forming assumptions about your coworkers’ work ethic.
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