Music or no music?

Music in the workplace can be a divisive issue, without a doubt. Some listeners submit themselves to the isolation of headphones while others like having soft music playing for ambiance from speakers or a radio. There are those who embrace plain old silence or the regular sounds of an office.

Whether you like soft sounds or hard driving rock, chances are you have an opinion. A strong one.

Proponents say that listening to music at work has a morale-boosting effect. Detractors say it’s a distraction.

Do you listen to it at work? Should you? Is it beneficial? I think it is, and there’s some research that backs me up.

It doesn’t have to be an overwhelming commitment according to Dr. Amit Sood of the Mayo Clinic. He told the New York Times that mental recharge can be had quite quickly through music. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/jobs/how-music-can-improve-worker-productivity-workstation.html?_r=0

It is also believed that music can make you smarter – The Mozart Effect can temporarily boost your IQ for spatial reasoning tasks. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1281386/

Not only can music make you smarter, it can also reduce the number of sick days taken from work. What’s not to like about that? http://www.musicworksforyou.com/news-and-charts/news/203-music-could-increase-workplace-productivity-and-cut-sickies-by-millions

Research does show that listening to music at work is sometimes not such a good idea, especially if you are a surgeon. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/surgeons-have-been-warned-to-stop-playing-drum-and-bass-during-procedures-10439163.html

Here at Velsoft each sales rep has their own special music clip that plays whenever they make a sale. Those clips play a lot and it’s music to our ears. This can be seen as an example of music boosting morale and providing a motivating work environment.

In the end, it’s best to take a survey of employees to get a consensus of whether music would be accepted or not. Now getting a consensus on style of music, well, good luck with that!