The psychological effects of silence are not limited to improved focus; they also include enhanced creativity, self-control, and self-awareness and give additional perspective. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that your office includes spaces where your employees may work in complete silence. In this article, we will elaborate on this topic and explain the power of silence in psychology, proving how critical it is for your workplace and discussing how soundproof office pods may help in this case. Did we spark your interest? Then feel invited to read on!
The Psychological Power of Silence
Silence comes with both physical and psychological benefits, ones that not only help us handle everyday tasks and do our job but also those that improve our well-being and health overall. Many of these advantages come with far-reaching positive consequences. Let’s take a look at them first and see how beneficial silence in a workplace is.
-
Improved concentration and focus – This is not a surprise, yet we have to mention that silence improves focus, making it easier to concentrate on tasks and do them quickly and with adequate quality. To show it in the numbers, we usually completely focus at around 70-90 dB, which is also the level when we start making many more errors; an average office is between 40-80 dB depending on the source. This means that we often work in conditions that are simply too loud to fully focus, which affects our performance.
-
Stress relief – The psychological effects of silence on stress relief were already observed in 2005 by Bernardni, Porta, and Sleight, who discovered that even 2 minutes of silence are a better relief than listening to calming music. This means that providing your employees with soundproof spaces, even if they spend a minor amount of time in them, can significantly drop their stress levels and prevent burnout.
-
Better memory – We also know that silence stimulates brain cell growth. This, on the other hand, means one thing: it’s easier to learn and retain information in silence. This is especially important when your employees handle new tasks, so it’s worth providing them with adequate, silent space for that.
-
Patience – Silence also leads to better patience. This is important when dealing with extremely difficult or monotonous tasks, as well as in situations when your employees need to handle problematic customers.
-
Improved sleep – As the power of silence on our psychology is to make us calm, we benefit on a few different levels. One of these is related to sleeping. Insomnia is a major problem now, one that can lead to your employees being exhausted and therefore dropping in productivity or even giving up on work entirely. By giving them places where they can work in silence, you make them calmer and thus make it easier for them to fall asleep in the evening, battling the problem of insomnia. It’s not a full-on solution that will solve all the issues, but it does help.
- Higher creativity – Silence leads to mindfulness, to becoming more self-aware, to seeing things that we haven’t perceived before. All of these combine into one positive psychological effect of silence: enhanced creativity. Sure, it will not replace brainstorms or mind maps, but just a few minutes of silence can result in a few extra ideas worth pursuing, so you shouldn’t overlook it.
Soundproof Office Pod as a Guarantee of Silence
Clearly, the benefits of silence on our minds are remarkable. Yet, how to achieve low noise levels in such a dynamic space as a workplace? For this, you need to opt for office booths.
While usually associated with small spaces for phone and video calls, office pods actually come in various sizes, with the largest capable of accommodating even 10 people. Installing a few of them in your office will give your employees the space they need, a silent one. Plus, it’ll reduce the traditional office hassle as you will be able to organize meetings in these soundproof pods rather than in traditional rooms which don’t block all the noise.
Will it eliminate unwanted distractions and sounds completely? No, after all, you will still work in a lively office. But, placing such booths will decrease the average number of decibels in your workplace, and most importantly, it will grant your workers a choice, a possibility to work in silence if this is what they need.
The Takeaway
The power silence has on our psychology cannot be doubted. The quieter our environment, the better we feel, and the more effective we are. Therefore, ensuring that your employees have proper conditions and a place to work in silence is key to building a healthy, efficient, and happy workplace.
You may also read: Workplace Distractions Are More Than Just Annoying
Sources:
Bernardi, L., Porta, C., & Sleight, P. (2006). Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence. Heart (British Cardiac Society), 92(4), 445–452. https://doi.org/10.1136/hrt.2005.064600