Implement a noise policy in your communal office that works for all coworkers.
Claire is an organizer and designer based in Chicago. In the past year and a half she's worked on a mayoral, congressional and presidential race where she helped unionize a top-tier presidential campaign. She believes collective action leads to more informed citizens and a healthier society.
We’ve recently noticed an increase in noise complaints in our open office. Most of these complaints have centered around loud phone calls and/or music and videos being played without the use of headphones. This is leading to frustration among our colleagues and reduced concentration for all of us. In order to mitigate these complaints we propose implementing a headphone requirement for all music, video, and phone calls during normal work hours. Any music or videos played or phone calls taken in the communal office space shared by other employees at [Company] should require headphones. If we adopt this policy, it will satisfy the needs of both the people who want to listen to music while they work and those who do not.
Noise levels affect us all differently, but research has found that the majority of people work best in silence. Silent work conditions are difficult to attain in the modern office, but we can start reducing our volume levels by being respectful of the noise we make. We hope that by striving for a quieter office, everyone will have a chance to be their most productive.