<p>My D sent me an email from her desk at her internship mentioning that she just heard our next door neighbor’s name mentioned on the radio. She apparently is listening to our local public radio station streaming through headphones while she works at her desk.</p>
<p>What to parents think about this habit at work? As a consultant (who always feels like I need to be careful, as I am not an employee…) and as a sometimes boss, I am not a fan unless someone is stuck with a truly repetitive task. Otherwise, I feel like an employees attention is divided and not entirely focused on the task at hand, especially if it requires analysis. It also uses bandwidth that the business/agency is purchasing for business use. Not that I don’t accept that a small amount of surfing/personal emailing/etc. is okay during the day, as I think it is. But I think this uses more resources. </p>
<p>What do others think about this? What (if anything) would you tell someone new to the work world about this?</p>
<p>Sorry, thread title is inaccurate… since she is not listening to music :)</p>
<p>Most of our younger guys do that. Took awhile to get used to but now it’s just the way things are. Our jobs are very individual and custom and you get paid on output so it’s really their call. Most use Ipods and not web-streaming. There was a memo on web-streaming as in NO. I have a private office and have the radio on softly all day.
But for an intern–no.</p>
<p>In my industry: headphones in the lab = accident in the making. Many companies have policies against headphones in the lab (same as driving with headphone on).</p>
<p>It’s common at my workplace-- but it limits casual conversation and interaction with other employees. If I were an intern, I’d want to keep my ears open.</p>
<p>I keep mine in a lot and I’m not young :-). It’s way less distracting than all the people up & down the hallways chattering. Obviously if someone comes to my door I take them off.</p>
<p>At my former office, I don’t think that would fly for most positions. Very much depends on the job. I sure wouldn’t – makes you look inaccessible.</p>
<p>At my office, people use streaming radio or Pandora, bandwidth isn’t an issue here. We can’t use headphones, so it’s over speakers with the volume on low. Me personally, I like having the radio on in the background, heck I sleep with it on.</p>
<p>If I were an intern, I wouldn’t do it though.</p>
<p>If they can use headphones and are generally responsive to phone/email/IM/walkups, then no problem. In my environment, the office is too noisy and distracting w/o music.</p>
<p>The problem is not the music, the problem is they keep it VERY loud. Either they are deaf or have ears that are not meant for std. ear plugs (my wife and son has them). The ear plug music at a distance of 2-3 away is gibberish distracting noise.</p>
<p>Before one jumps at MY RIGHT, MY MUSIC, MY FREEDOM band wagon, try listening to the crap you are listening to with full volume and ear plugs not in your ear.</p>
<p>Very common in my office. If someone can’t hear you, then you have to go into their field of vision. The sound-proofing of the office walls is not always the best and sometimes music helps to block out conversations or equipment noise.</p>
<p>I am 48 and actually just started wearing a headset at work when I am at the computer in the back office.</p>
<p>I don’t wear it all the time, but I get very frustrated at some of the chattiness in the office, or the programming going on in the next room, and I need to be able to think.</p>
<p>I work in a cube farm. When there are five different conversations going on around me at once, or “shout into the phone” guy is on the phone, it is impossible to work without headphones.</p>
<p>Streaming isn’t really a bandwidth issue for us, but I loaded most of my stuff onto my computer. I will stream sometimes.</p>
<p>If the OP’s D wants to listen to music and is worried about it, ask the boss if it is OK, and if streaming is OK.</p>
<p>intparent, it just depends on the company and the job she is doing. I work in a cube farm also. Obviously I’m not going to listen to music if I’m on the phone with someone… but if I’m at my desk working on something repetitive for a prolonged period of time I’ll put headphones on and steam some music. I don’t use a radio station, I have some songs set up on my website for my listening pleasure while at work. If I’m at my desk training for a prolonged period of time (continuing ed, 8 hr courses, etc) I may listen also. It helps drown out everything else and makes it easier to focus, IMO. My sister works at a place that recommends they bring in headphones to stay sane, haha! She takes her ipod with her each day and sometimes a handheld radio as well.</p>
<p>My H uses his iPod to help him concentrate. He has a private office, so outside noise really isn’t a problem. However, he often spend hours and hours crunching numbers and working on very detailed spreadsheets. He puts in his earbuds and cranks up the rock and roll. The people he manages in the cube farm often have their head phones on as well. They use a lot of instant messaging to communicate with each other. Believe it or not, they are a very cohesive, communicative, and productive group.</p>
<p>I let it be known that I do not want people to listen to music on my floor, no speaker phones (if need be, get a conference room). Funny thing was when my boss (from another region) came for a visit, he asked me if I had a spare earphone for him to listen to music on his iphone because he needed to focus on writing a presentation. I gave him a look, “No, we don’t usually listen to music at work.” Sheesh.</p>
<p>We have few excellent programmers who would put their earphones on when they need to focus, and I wouldn’t say anything (most of the time they would be at a more remote site, not near the front office). If I saw an intern with earphones on, I wouldn’t say anything either, but it would be noted.</p>
<p>Sometimes the best way to solve a problem or invent something new is to spend some time away from the problem - in other words, to not focus as hard. We invent a lot of new things and there’s a certain amount of creativity involved in that and, for some of our engineers, it helps.</p>
<p>We have a lot of flexibility at work - you can work in another country if you want to; people come in in shorts and sandals, some people come in in the afternoon and work until midnight. Some people bring in musical instruments and play in their offices at lunchtime. It’s a place with many interesting people.</p>
<p>I’m not an adult, but it seems to depend a lot on your field of work. I know that most of the adults in my life definitely could not get away with listening to music at work, but in my mom’s line of work - manufacturing - it’s very common. My mom goes to work every day either blasting rock music or listening to books on CD (except when potential clients are in, for obvious reasons). She kicks butt at what she does so nobody has given her a problem about it at the last three places she has worked. Generally my mom is very skilled at what she does, so unless she is building a particularly complicated board or wire, she needs to have something to occupy her mind or else she’ll zone out and make mistakes. My mom has definitely worked at some odd sorts of places though. If you saw many of the people that build the components that go into our jet planes and life support machines, you’d probably have a heart attack (and then be rescuscitated by a machine with a part built by one of those people…)</p>
<p>I can’t imagine doing that in an internship position, though, or in any sort of capacity that deals with customer service. Just thought I’d offer my mom’s story up though.</p>
<p>Our group’s admin listens to music WITHOUT headphones. It drives me nuts, but she doesn’t report to me, and the person whom she does report to is located as close to her desk as I am. I don’t feel comfortable complaining about a situation that this woman’s supervisor is well aware of and chooses to do nothing about.</p>
<p>Fortunately, our whole group is being moved to a new location in two weeks, and the admin will be on the other side of the building. Yay! </p>
<p>Personally, I can’t work while listening to music. I can’t even drive when listening to music with lyrics (although I can manage if the music is strictly instrumental). But I have used headphones sometimes to block out other people’s noise, and when I need to listen to the sound on my computer for some reason, I use headphones. This is basic courtesy, in my opinion.</p>
<p>If you can work while listening to music, good for you. But PLEASE use headphones or earbuds.</p>