Noise can be the biggest downfall to any open-plan office space. It makes it hard for your employees to concentrate, reduces their privacy, and can even lead to feelings of stress and depression.
Having a nearly soundproof booth which eliminates noise allows you to have the best of both worlds; an open work space that offers an area for privacy when you need it.
Choosing the right sound blocking booth
If your sound blocking booth doesn't come with the right features, doesn’t block enough noise, or isn’t a convenient fit for your office, then why bother? That’s why it is so important to choose the right office phone booth.
There are several factors to look into when selecting your product:
- How much noise it eliminates - we recommend up to 40 decibels
- How much size it takes up – we can go to as small as 84.5 in x 45.5 in x 41 in to help save floor space. (We also have booths that fit up to 2 people, perfect for meetings.)
- Whether it comes with a one-year warranty
- Whether your soundproofing is adequate – look for double pane insulated glass doors, denim insulation, and a well-built fit
- Whether it is easy to move around later. If you decide you want to put it somewhere else, then it should be possible for just one person to do the task in a few hours – modular walls and floors are useful for this
- Well ventilated fans - our booths cycle all the air in just 2 minutes
- Whether it includes a working space – a standing desk or a desk with chairs, electrical outlets, and USB outlets
Keeping these factors in mind will ensure that your soundproof booth fits your needs. Without them, you might end up with a booth that isn’t compatible with your workday at all.
How to use your sound blocking booth for meetings
There are many awesome ways you can use your soundproof booth.
One of the options, as you may have guessed, is for meetings. A soundproof area allows you to hold a meeting without the disruption or distractions of coworkers in an open work space. Especially if your company culture is playful, an open-plan office can end up getting rowdy. That can be difficult to block out during a focused discussion.
It’s also important that any visitors or customers are impressed by what they see when they come to your office. A custom meeting room with soundproofing will check off all of the boxes, showing them that you are serious about business.
Your booth is not restricted to use just for face-to-face meetings, however. Phone calls, conference calls, and video calls can all be taken in the booth to great effect. It can be hard to hear others talking over the phone when the background is very noisy.
It’s also difficult to hold business talks in an open-plan office that you really want to keep confidential. For that, you need privacy.
Sound blocking phone booths for one
Another use for our office phone booths is as a private working space. This could be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis for those who need to sit and concentrate in silence. It can also be allocated to an employee who only works some days in the office, or someone who would not normally have their own desk.
It can even be available for consultants or interim employees who come in to serve a set task or project and will be leaving again once their work is done.
The great thing about the booth is that it does not need to have one set purpose. It can be used for all of the options above, interchangeably, at different times and on different days. That’s the beauty of having a soundproof space that everyone can access.
The benefits of sound blocking booths in the workplace
As we have already discussed, having a soundproof booth in your workplace can do wonders for privacy, professionalism, and the ability to work without distractions. Even when the call or meeting is not an urgent or confidential one, just having a quiet place to sit for a chat can be very important to your employees. It will make them feel like they are in control of their own work space, which will reduce stress and increase job satisfaction.
Employees tend to rate privacy and quiet very highly, and generally wish they had more of it. Once they experience a booth, productivity will be increased massively, along with concentration, allowing them to nail down the finer details of their work.
Being able to move the booth around is also a huge benefit. Imagine that you have various branches, or even one branch split into different departments. You can move the booth around to wherever it is needed in a matter of hours–or less than that–if all hands pitch in. This is why you should be looking at a booth rather than a permanent structure.
However, with this level of quality, the impermanence of the structure does not translate to shabbiness or flimsiness. Rather, you can construct a whole self-contained room with a minimum of stress and without the need to position it perfectly. It can simply move again later.
What mood benefits will your employees get from having a soundproof booth? Those who work in an open-plan office can often feel stressed out, exhausted, depressed, anxious, and may express a desire to move on from the company. If you have lost some top talent in the past, this could be why!
But the magic of a soundproof booth is that it can ease all of those burdens. The absence of noise reduces stress and exhaustion levels. Allowing some privacy will ease anxiety, and giving employees the control over their working environment will ease depression and stress further. All of this put together makes a happier employee.
What does a happy employee do? They stay with their employer and generally get more done.
One thing is clear: having a soundproof booth is a must for almost any office. Eliminating the background noise can work wonders for your workforce and turn productivity around. Add in the professionalism that it projects, and you will want to consider one for your office.
To discuss more ways a soundproof booth can help your business overcome its noise and privacy challenges, contact Zenbooth today.
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