Ben Hancock is the managing director of Oscar Acoustics
Credit: Antonia Stuart
The entire office ecosphere has changed fundamentally and together with the requirements for our built environments. However, not everyone seems to have preserved the memo. Since companies continue to navigate to get the big return to the office, it is not enough to simply commission participation. It is something that has to be encouraged and motivated so that the office becomes a place where people actively choose.
In our latest white paper, Design future work areas for “the big return to the office”We emphasize the challenge of converting offices and jobs into rooms that really promote an active presence instead of just a passive number of visitors. The key is to prioritize the well -being and productivity of employees through a holistic, multisensory design.
This shift offers a significant opportunity for contractors, subcontractors, developers and construction owners. Each office building, upgrade or retrofitting offers the opportunity to form work areas in which people are motivated to come together to do their best work.
The undeniable separation: noise is a productivity barrier
Our white paper, based on a survey of 2,000 employees, revealed the sheer expansion of dissatisfaction with the current office environments, with noise being an important problem. Over half (56 percent) of the company workers will find their office loudly – a number that has hardly changed in over five years (59 percent in 2019). Even more than 29 percent of the employees believe that their office supports productivity, but only 3 percent of companies actively try to redesign these rooms.
For real estate owners, managers and leading occupants, this is a critical separation. For the construction industry, this means that projects that concentrate exclusively on aesthetics or basic office functions are missing a crucial piece of the puzzle: the human experience lived.
In addition to general irritation, the effects of noise can be strong. The registered emotional and health effects are considerable, and many respondents agree that loud rooms affect the concentration (47 percent), irritation (36 percent) and stress (30 percent). This is particularly weak for the over 15 percent of the British population who are neurodive for sensory overload in loud environments. It is clearly an urgent need for integrative design.
Hug a multi -sensory approach
Our research shows that 29 percent of employees actively demand better acoustics. The solution lies in the hug of a multi -sensory design frameworks. Creation of rooms that really react to people's needs.
Companies that ignore this demand risk considerable consequences: poor performance, high sales sales and ongoing recruitment challenges. In the hospitality, we saw people who run out of loud restaurants. The same thing is now happening in jobs.
Structure for optimal performance and binding
For the construction sector, the integration of the proper acoustic design is not a “nice-to-have” from the start, but a core element for the promotion of health at the workplace-one key factor, which architects and designers should be considered in addition to lighting or ventilation.
Contractors and information have the important opportunity to clarify customers about the long -term advantages of sound design. Investments in solutions such as acoustic sprays that absorb sound energy enables the creation of “acoustic zoning” – and offers various, flexible spaces for concentration, cooperation and relaxation.
The aim is to promote an environment in which the employees feel encouraged to get their headphones (whose use to 41 percent almost doubled) and to get real cooperation. The creation of acoustically balanced rooms with “Home-From-Home” topping is of crucial importance for the development of junior personnel development and the wider team coachion.
It is a wrong economy to ignore acoustics. By priorating the sound design from the first day, developers and company managers can deliver environments in which people stay and want to be productive. This is an investment in human capital that offers tangible performance returns, recruitment and storage and designs future work areas that really work for all.
To learn more about Oscar Acoustics study, download the formation rooms of 2025 white paper to get the big return to the office here.