If your company has an open office, it's hard to imagine a way to combat the downsides without moving. From excessive noise to distracting coworkers, open offices hinder productivity and employee happiness.
Fortunately, there are office phone booths like Zenbooth, a reasonably priced solution that provides a distraction-free environment for workers. Let’s look at five ways an office phone booth can lower stress in your workplace.
Screening Out Noise & Loud Coworkers
Noise is one of the biggest problems in open office work environments. Workplace noise can come from any number of sources, and in an open workplace, employees may be exposed to all of them:
- Telephone calls and interpersonal conversations
- Ringing phones and sounds from large office equipment
- Elevator and door noises
- Foot traffic
- Workstation sounds: chairs rolling, file cabinets opening and closing, etc.
- Coffee area and kitchen noises
- Employee music at their desk
- Even loud chewing and slurping
Zenbooth, a premium office phone booth, screens out noise up to 40 decibels so workers can concentrate. Loss of concentration at work is a huge source of stress to employees, and workers in open office environments take 62 percent more sick days than those in conventional work layouts.
Reducing Visual and Olfactory Distractions
Office phone booths also reduce visual distractions, like people constantly walking by, which are necessary for work but cause loss of focus nonetheless. The transportation of large products or equipment can also be blocked by the booth, keeping people's attention on their work.
Zenbooth comes in a variety of sizes, including a booth for just one person, the Comfort Booth, with an attached desk that can be made so individuals can raise or lower it to create the most comfortable set-up for them.
The ability to sit quietly by yourself is often highly coveted in open office spaces, but few get to have this kind of high-focus environment. With a Zenbooth, employees can work on projects that require heavy concentration and can eliminate the stress that comes from repeatedly having to refocus after being distracted.
Producitivity and Mental Health Benefits of Privacy
Open offices were designed without any concern for privacy. But lack of privacy can be detrimental to employees in so many ways. For one thing, every worker is entitled to a few minutes’ to themselves when they need to call a friend or spouse, without coworkers overhearing a potentially embarrassing conversation.
You might be familiar with seeing a coworker run outside to have a personal conversation. This is an excessive alternative to simply having a private, quiet space available in the office.
Also, when managers have talks with employees, their chats may need to be confidential. Employees should be able to have discreet conversations about salary, workplace conflicts, and other sensitive topics without fear of being overheard.
Zenbooth is perfect for these kinds of discussions. In addition to screening out noise and keeping confidential conversations private, Zenbooth’s two-person size Executive XL booth is ideal for manager-employee meetings, or for when two employees need to meet without others listening in.
The two-person Zenbooth comes with the same amenities as the one-person booth:
- A desk that can be made adjustable for sitting or standing
- Charging ports for laptops and mobile devices
- Electrical outlets
- Landline telephone outlets
- Comfortable ventilation
- Bright work atmosphere with both electric and natural light via skylights
- Magnetic door closure
- Attractive, eco-friendly natural wood exterior
Improving Professionalism
To some clients and visiting colleagues, open office spaces can seem unprofessional and even juvenile. It can be impossible to meet with prospective customers or important visitors in an open office environment without everyone in the office listening in and without noise disrupting the conversation.
Zenbooth offers a wonderful solution to this dilemma with the Executive Room, which accommodates up to four people simultaneously. This size booth provides the perfect place for client meetings, appointments with vendors and management conferences.
You bring your own work surface and chairs, and Zenbooth provides the rest, just as it does with the smaller models.
With a Zenbooth Executive Room, the stress associated with important and confidential meetings is eliminated. You can use it as a conference room or even designate it as an office for visiting VIPs, such as auditors and company executives. Visitors will feel like they’re being treated professionally and cordially.
Facilitating Teamwork the Right Way
Open office workplaces were originally promoted to help facilitate teamwork, by making it easier for workers to collaborate on projects and to converse while generating ideas or sharing updates. However, open offices have been more of a negative than a positive and employee groups still have difficulties working together.
In spaces dominated by cubicles, it can be challenging to find a place where everyone can sit together. Team conversations disturb other workers, and vice versa, noise from the office can interrupt the team too. In offices without a conference room, there may be little space to spread out blueprints or graphic design documents.
The Zenbooth Executive Room is ideal for relieving this type of office issue. It works for small presentations, training when onboarding new employees, and any group activities that would normally not work well in an open office.
For more information about how Zenbooth could improve your workplace, get in touch today.
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