Do you ever feel like your employees don’t deliver the results you know they can offer? 

If they have all the benefits a company could offer, what else might impede their performance? This may come as a surprise to some but audible noise could be the deciding factor here.

The office environment has a direct impact on the employees’ productivity levels. 

If your office productivity is low, your office might not be providing a good environment. You must eliminate distractions to let your employees focus. For that, you need a sound masking machine.

Does every office need one? Yes – read on to know the reasons why.

1. To Provide a Comfortable Working Environment

An office sound masking machine can cover eerie sounds.

It rides the wave of the hum in the workplace, replacing it with a “quiet” and peaceful sound. One might even describe the sound as pleasant to the ears.

This is because a sound masking equipment emits a sound that blends in with the background. It’s gentle, almost like air. At the same time, it masks the sounds of a door opening or a drawer slamming shut.

As a result, the environment becomes more comfortable and more conducive to working.

2. To Reduce Distractions in an Open Office

An open office workspace is one of the hottest trends today, but it comes with a major downside. Because there are no walls, there are no structures to block out the noise.

Everything that happens on one corner of the room becomes known to the other corner. While this may be great for collaborations, this isn’t ideal for the everyday task of an employee.

The caveat is that a worker’s everyday tasks take up the majority of their workload.

This means they need more privacy and their own space where they can focus on the task. They don’t need to know what their co-worker at the other end of the room ate for lunch.

An open office workspace doesn’t provide a good environment to fulfill these needs. However, one doesn’t need to put up walls to enjoy the benefits of it. An office noise reduction machine can work to mask the distractions.

3. To Increase the Productivity of Your Workers

A peaceful environment improves the focus of your employees, allowing them to achieve maximum productivity.

When you reduce the distractions and provide them with the illusion of a private space, they can keep their attention on the task at hand.

This also helps you get the worth of every cent you pay your employees. Did you know that on average, employees lose 21.5 minutes per day due to distractions? That’s about 4% of their day.

If you have 50 employees and you pay them an average of $50,000 a year, you’re losing about $100,000 a year. This means a sound masking machine is a good investment; it can pay itself off in no time.

4. To Decrease the Chances of Errors

You know how paper shredders are a must-have for offices since they eliminate security risks? Sound masking machines serve a similar purpose since they help reduce instances of production errors.

When your employees hear a noise, they lose their focus. Their mind may wander to the source of the noise. They may make some noise themselves by talking to their neighbor, for example.

This not only results in a loss of productivity, but it may also lead to errors. As you know, some errors can be dangerous to the company or the client.

Providing an optimal working environment reduces these risks.

If you know your office is prone to distractions, such as having an open space environment, take the initiative in encouraging a healthy workplace with sound masking equipment.

5. To Provide Privacy to Employees

Employees need privacy so they can maintain their focus. Other than that, however, they also need it to discuss sensitive information to other employees.

A sales team, for example, needs to discuss their current numbers this month without the other team hearing them.

Meetings will also be productive. After all, these talks need privacy as employees talk about confidential matters.

If they suspect someone may overhear, they may hesitate to discuss important details. On the other hand, if they’re confident that no one is listening in, they can discuss all they want.

6. To Provide Privacy to Customers

Your clients need their privacy, too. If they want to discuss something with you, make sure you have the proper space for it.

A sound masking equipment might not provide visual privacy in an open office setting. It will, however, provide speech privacy.

Even if you have walls, you might not know how much information is leaking out.

Drywalls, which is the material in most conference rooms, aren’t that big on speech privacy.

If you want to ensure that all the information is private, especially those related to your clients, investing in a good sound masking machine is a good move.

7. To Improve Client Satisfaction

If your clients and customers are aware that you’re handling their information with care, they will be more satisfied with your services. Knowing that you’re taking extra steps to protect their sensitive details might even earn you their loyalty.

For example, a part of your employees’ job is to get a customer’s credit card details over the phone. It’s important that no one else can get that information.

Your employee might repeat it back to the caller, which makes it vulnerable to listeners.

A sound masking machine, however, eliminates this problem. When you protect your customers, you earn their trust and their business as well.

White noise in office spaces can do the trick, too. It provides “radio static” sounds that can mask conversations. It can mask normal office spaces sounds, too, like keyboard sounds and water cooler talks.

If you’re interested in such a machine, check this out for some great choices for white noise machines.

Want to Learn More About the Sound Masking Machine?

If you’re having troubles with productivity and noise distractions in your office, a sound masking machine is a great choice. They can help your employees concentrate and boost production performance too.

Don’t stop here! If you want other tips, though, check out our other guides today for more about better office performance.