One in five use iPod at work
A British survey has found that upwards of 22% of employees listen to their iPod, or other digital audio player, for up to 3 hours out of the work day. Shocking, isn't it? OK, so this isn't big news but it would seem that 30% of British firms surveyed have banned the use of iPods at the work place.I'm not sure I could actually do my job without listening to music, but at least on productivity expert warns that listening to music might cause people to work less.
So, readers, does your company ban the use of iPods at work?
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
snacs said 8:27PM on 10-30-2006
The design company I work for purchased headphones for all employees. We listen to music and podcasts through iTunes all day while we work... and I wouldn't have it any other way :).
Reply
Sherman Homan said 2:31PM on 10-31-2006
Channeling Joe Isuzu:
Yeah, iPods are necessary for work! Yeah, that's the ticket! More profit for the company! Yeah, that's the ticket!
Reply
Jon H. said 9:27PM on 10-30-2006
I use my iPod at work because Internet radio is blocked. I brought in my own set of mini-speakers for the purpose; I don't do headphones at work because they're isolating...
My company has no real policy on music otherwise, but I stay on the safe side and (because I work in an open area) only have it on when it's relatively empty. I usually listen to podcasts like Dailysonic (www.dailysonic.com) and various NPR productions.
Reply
ande said 9:38PM on 10-30-2006
Music drowns out distracting sounds by providing something "predictable" for your brain to process, rather than having to momentarily stop and figure out what a foreign sound was. This is often observed in teens doing homework. Why wouldn't it work for adults too?
Reply
Jon Crosby said 10:20PM on 10-30-2006
Being the author of a productivity app, I tend to think about these kinds of things a lot. Any sort of headphone use, whether an iPod for the hipster or some clunky imitation (for the tragically unhip) can be a plus.
In the modern cube farm, music can be a real productivity booster for those with complex problems to solve. As Paul Graham has pointed out in his essays, some of the better hackers can hold very elaborate structures in their heads but the loading of this sort of thing can take up to an hour. At that critical point, this talented programmer can reach a level of productivity that is quite astonishing and far above the typical cube dweller. The cube farm environment is a threat to this heightened state of flow. Anyone at any time can stop by to ask about the latest sports score, call about filling out form X235b for VP so-and-so, etc. At this point, the flow is broken and the whole "loading" process starts again. Even the very thought of this possibility is distracting for some.
This is where the iPod shines. Plug in your headphones and immediately drown out neighboring conversations about performance reviews, shopping, and P Diddy. Bliss in a box, plus a slight deterrent for those who are social-cue-aware (a subset of cube culture, unfortunately).
Reply
Catt said 10:50PM on 10-30-2006
iPods are OK at my workplace some days I don't know how I could get through
my work without music. I wok in a cubicle with people coming in and out of the room and phones ringing and such my iPod is good for keeping some of the extra sounds at bay. I use the regular headphones so that I can hear my phone ringing once in a while...
Reply
Matt said 11:00PM on 10-30-2006
I've only worked one place that banned iPods/MP3 players while working, and that was a movie theater. Today I'm self employed, so I use it constantly, but my last job was as a pro sound tech, so I was either listening to it or it over a speaker system all the time.
Reply
Mitch said 11:01PM on 10-30-2006
I've been listening to music at work since the first days of portable CD players! It is A MUST for me. I cannot stand to hear all the cubicle mates chatter and phone talk etc... i'm too easily distracted. Music helps me focus and there's no other way for me to work. Take it away and you lose lots of productivity.
Reply
Dave M. said 11:21PM on 10-30-2006
No, and if they did, I would seriously consider quitting. My iPod and my music collection is what gets me through the day. If I wasn't able to listen to my music, I would go insane there. The job is pretty boring business stuff.
I can see places of business not allowing iPods and other MP3 players. Boing comes to mind. Any place that has Secret or Top Secret requirements and such.
I can also see where other companies would be concerned about an employee taking software source, sensitive documents, or programs out of the office with such devices.
Reply
Alexandra said 1:27AM on 10-31-2006
My company has grown so fast that we are really short of space these days. A cube farm would be a luxury. We're so packed together that we distract each other quite a lot and we're encouraged to bring headphones to work to be able to concentrate better.
Reply
LittleJoe said 3:43AM on 10-31-2006
I work at a cd/dvd replication factory and while they dont ban the use of music players its all pretty pointless since part of my job is listening for a faint alarm noise in an already very noisy, massive building that goes off on malfunctioned machines.
Grrrr
Reply
LittleJoe said 3:48AM on 10-31-2006
...to add: Its ironic that i get to make music all day but i cant listen to it... eh? And Im a music freak!
Reply
mark said 9:16AM on 10-31-2006
I work for a graphic design studio that's organized in a team structure. Most teams have a stereo in their space. The team on the floor above me usually plays really bad music loud enough that I can hear it clearly through the ceiling of my office, so sometimes I'll put my headphones on to drown out their crap. Also, if I'm trying to crank through work I'll use my headphones to help eliminate distractions like the phone.
Reply
diskgrinder said 4:48AM on 11-03-2006
Spokesman Alan Mitchell said: "If staff spend time listening to music instead of working, that will reduce their productivity and so firms are quite right to ban MP3 players."
fuckwit
Reply
matthew said 10:35AM on 10-31-2006
Nice. I was just at the dentist and was pleasantly surprised (as an AAPL shareholder) to see that it appeared as though the employees all brought their personal iPods to work. They took turns swapping the iPod in and out a desktop speaker base (JBL).
Reply
nicole said 10:05AM on 10-31-2006
I listen to my iPod at work every day, all day. They joke that my headphones are going to grow into my head. And quite frankly, my iPod helps the day go faster, and I can stay focused on my work.
Instead of listening to my coworker constantly call her boyfriend every 5 minutes to complain about something, or listen to another coworker talk about her cheating husband, I can just tune out all of them with my music.
Also, I like the fact that my headphones keep people from bugging me. That keeps me out of the office cliques and their politics.
Reply
Raj Mandalia said 4:41PM on 10-31-2006
I find that when I really need to concentrate, music is a must. Its been that way ever since I can remember, way back when work was homework. These days its XM Radio or my mp3 player (it doesn't have to be an iPod!) or mp3 files on my computer, or the latest addition to this list, mp3Tunes's locker Oboe (http://www.mp3tunes.com/locker).
Reply
Jay said 1:32AM on 11-01-2006
The company I currently work for, doing data entry actually encourages the use of MP3 players to drown out the clacking of keyboards. With 30 other people in the same room, it can get noisy. I don't know what I'd do without my iPod at work. The last place I worked, in the offices of a steel warehouse would not allow iPods. No way, no how.
Reply