After years of remote work, post-pandemic employees are struggling with office distractions. The solutions run from in-office phone booths to libraries to, surprisingly, adding more sound.had West doesn’t go into his London office more than once a week. As a vice president of marketing at crypto smart wallet, West shows up for strategy or creative meetings.
Compounding the problem: At companies that have downsized their real estate to take advantage of fewer people being onsite, conference rooms and private spaces fill up fast–with the first to claim them each day staying put. “It's human behavior,” says Melissa Strickland, a principal and managing director at design firm.
“We don't habituate to noise,” observes Libby Sander, an assistant professor at Bond University in Australia who worked on the study. “We have this idea that oh, you’ll just get used to it.…But physiologically and psychologically, your body doesn't.”, one of the biggest makers of office “pods”—essentially, fully enclosed, modern looking glass-walled phone booths that start at about $8,700 for a compact single.
Moodsonic’s sensors pick up sound levels and adjust the “soundscapes,” which include nature-inspired subtle birdsongs or babbling brooks, depending on the ratio of loud sales calls to focused work or whether it’s a quiet Friday or bustling Tuesday. Benway won’t disclose revenues, but says the company is working with 30 of the 500 largest U.S. companies and is already profitable; in its second year it tripled the square footage where it provides soundscapes and grew subscriptions by 150%.
Ikea’s new line, with its acoustic screens, is one example of a broader move to offer more solutions that don’t require lots of private offices or rooms, which arguably defeat the purpose of having people come into the office to collaborate. “Why would I want to come into a whole bank of pods or Zoom booths, and that’s my experience for the day?” asks Tracy Wymer, vice president of insights & inspiration at Teknion, which makes booths itself.