# Headphones in work not allowed



## BillyNoMates (23 Jun 2006)

I work in an office enviroment in an I.T. company.

I was surprised that no one in the job listens to head phones.

I think it would be frowned upon by the company.

I was just wondering what other people thought.

In my opinion there might be a worry that it makes people some what unproductive, but I would argue that an overly quite office would hamper productivity more.


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## nelly (23 Jun 2006)

is it allowed? or just not done? 
I thnk if you are listening to radio( and using up space on streaming it in) it would be frowned upon alright, otherwise i can say that it is the norm in my workplace.


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## BillyNoMates (19 Apr 2007)

just not done. Office is way too quite. One guy has even left because of the atmosphere.


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## elefantfresh (19 Apr 2007)

I use the headphones 50% of the time in work - sometimes when the office noise becomes too much and you need to concentrate etc its much easier with music on. Whistle while you work i guess. It seems a little odd that you can't listen to tunes. Agreed about taking up bandwidth or whatever but surely listening to a cd or mp3s cant be frowned upon.


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## ClubMan (19 Apr 2007)

BillyNoMates said:


> I think it would be frowned upon by the company.
> 
> I was just wondering what other people thought.


Why not ask if there is a specific policy on it?


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## ClubMan (19 Apr 2007)

elefantfresh said:


> Agreed about taking up bandwidth or whatever but surely listening to a cd or mp3s cant be frowned upon.


If they are on your own player/device but many companies are reluctant to take responsibility for the possibility of individuals storing illegally sourced copyright material (digital audio content, software etc.) on their own _IT _resources and will have specific policies regarding this.


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## ubiquitous (19 Apr 2007)

Maybe I'm living in the dark ages but I can't imagine how one could concentrate on one's work and relate in any normal kind of way with one's work colleagues by listening to music on headphones?


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## elefantfresh (19 Apr 2007)

Well obviously you dont sit in a meeting with them on!


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## ClubMan (19 Apr 2007)

ubiquitous said:


> Maybe I'm living in the dark ages but I can't imagine how one could concentrate on one's work and relate in any normal kind of way with one's work colleagues by listening to music on headphones?


Depends on the job. Some jobs don't require ongoing interaction with colleagues and can be done while listening to music.


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## ClubMan (19 Apr 2007)

elefantfresh said:


> Well obviously you dont sit in a meeting with them on!


Yeah - only idiots would try that on!


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## paddi22 (19 Apr 2007)

i spend all day with my headphones on. I work in a creative job and I find it really helps to listen to music. Or i'd listen to podcasts about design techniques or discussion - which I think improves my skills in general and keeps me interested in improving and pushing myself designwise. I also find people tend to distract you be chatting when you have earphones on as well!


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## Bob_tg (19 Apr 2007)

There's a guy who sits beside me and uses headphones a lot.  I know it annoys his manager and his dept. manager, but they don't make an issue of it, probably because they have more things to worry about.  I think it annoys them because when they call his attention and he seemingly ignores them, which makes them look/feel bad.  

I don't mind too much, but it does annoy me sometimes - occasionally, he can't hear his phone ring, sometimes people are talking to him and he doesn't realise, etc.  

Still, it beats a loud annoying radio in the office in my opinion!!


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## elefantfresh (19 Apr 2007)

I had to hide the cable for the radio in an office I worked in years back! If you want music in an office, put on your headphones and don't expect everyone else to have to listen to your choice.


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## BlueSpud (19 Apr 2007)

If you are listening to the radio at work, and you do a job that requires concentration, you are only kidding yourself thinking that it does not affect your work.  The only music that will not distract you is elevator music.


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## Seagull (19 Apr 2007)

BlueSpud said:


> If you are listening to the radio at work, and you do a job that requires concentration, you are only kidding yourself thinking that it does not affect your work. The only music that will not distract you is elevator music.


And that's because you'll have destroyed the source after 5 minutes.


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## Trafford (19 Apr 2007)

I would find music much less distracting than the snorting, farting, loud talking, chatting, laughing etc, which one must try to block out when working in an open plan office. A pair of headphones playing the fantastic Lyric FM all day would improve my concentration no end!


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## mo3art (19 Apr 2007)

I read this post and thought about the headphones I use in my job - Headset for telephone, used to prevent RSI when typing on the phone/multitasking. Also a dictaphone headset, for obvious reasons.

I can't even imagine being able to also use stereo headphones as I'd probably get tangled in a mess of wires.  Note, I have been known to answer the phone with my dictaphone headphones in and be confused as to why I can't hear the caller.   

Clearly in my company using headphones is a big no-no!


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## ontour (19 Apr 2007)

If you are incapable of multitasking or feel the need to change the music selection every 30 seconds then you will be negatively impacted otherwise it is amost a necessity if you are working in a cube farm to be able to block out the noise of the other 40 people working within 10 metres.

Makes me also consider whether people who wear suits are more productive than those that sit at their desk in combats and a dead kennedy's t-shirt, but that is probablt another thread.


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## Pique318 (19 Apr 2007)

ClubMan said:


> Yeah - only idiots would try that on!


 


LOL Brilliant !!!

In my company we can use personal music players with impunity.
Obviously as has been said, get caught with mp3's on the work machines and you're in deep doo-doo. 
Also, connecting mp3 players via usb (for charging) is banned too (although it's the honour system, usb ports are essential and therefore can't be disabled without major inconvenience) on the grounds that you could be copying intellectual property/'company secrets'.


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## ragazza (20 Apr 2007)

I think it depends on the job.
For example when I was studying for my finals, I could never have listened to music since I would have been distracted and needed all my attention to learn the material.
But sometimes in work if I'm doing some routine task which doesnt require all my attention I listen to music.
So yes I suppose I do think in general listening to headphones is a distraction, and should only be done when you dont need all your brain for the task in hand.


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## Lipstick69 (20 Apr 2007)

Not allowed where I work mainly because it doesn't look professional. There is a point to this when work requires concentration and thought!


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## elefantfresh (20 Apr 2007)

I'm only speaking for myself here, but I definitly work better when i have the headphones on. Of course this isn't for everyone but for me it works. I'm not talking about volume at 11 but loud enough to block out the office and allow me to concentrate on what needs to be done. I find i get into the groove (no madonna jokes please) when the music is on and i become much more productive.


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## imogen (21 Apr 2007)

I used to work in an IT company involved in the MP3 player market and MP3 headphones were, and doubtless still are, de rigeur for anyone not actually on a call. Most people would have their telephone headset on over their MP3 plugs.

Occasionally I used to wonder if some people just wore them in order not to get asked stuff and weren't listening to anything really. Only joking...

Imogen


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