We’ve written before about studies done in the US and Australia showing that workplace noise and distractions are harmful. Now, here’s another piece of evidence demonstrating that excessive office noise is bad for work productivity. 1,000 German employees in jobs requiring high levels of concentration were surveyed about their work environment. They said even the noise from equipment such as printers can disrupt their ability to focus. A couple of the recommendations for reducing unnecessary noise included:

• Limiting traffic through areas where workers are trying to concentrate
• Moving “collaborative” discussions to designated areas such as meeting rooms
• Using noise-dampening materials (our acoustic fabric panel extenders would fit in this category)