Listen Up: Amplifying the Power of Music at Work

If you’re anything like me, you’ll take a disproportionate amount of pride in colleagues bopping along to your playlists at work. And beyond pure egotism, there’s a good reason for this — did you know that 71% of people think they’re at their most productive when listening to music? So it will come as no surprise that when we can, over 85% of us enjoy playing tunes on the job. With all this in mind, being an office DJ is a pretty big responsibility. In this article, I’ll delve into how to best use music as a tool for productivity and a great office culture.

TIMING!… It’s all about it

On stressful days in the office, relaxing music is actually needed more than ever. A 2021 study showed that adults who listened to both personal and neutral selections of music, at home and in a laboratory environment, had significantly reduced cortisol levels. This was found regardless of the genre. Findings like these are why music therapy is prescribed to treat a whole host of issues such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, and burnout.

Music also improves our concentration when working on simple tasks. By capturing your unused attentional resources, it can stop our minds wandering off task and therefore increase productivity — this is especially true for extroverts.

And music isn’t just helpful for simple tasks. Research has found that complex, high tempo music like classical or experimental, is beneficial for concentrating on more demanding mental challenges. Songs within the range of 50–80 beats per minute match the human heart rate, induce the alpha state in our brains, and make us feel calm, alert, and focused.

A cappella things to consider

Of course, it’s not just BMPs that dictate a song’s usefulness for productivity. Here are some other key aspects to factor in:

Volume: Music played at a higher volume will obviously be more distracting. Therefore as a rule of thumb, if a song has a higher tempo, lower the volume and vice versa.

Vocals: Songs with lots of lyrics take up extra mental resources because they require more language processing. This leads to something called ‘the stroop effect’: a delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent stimuli. So if it’s a particularly busy day in the office, less is more on lyrics.

Familiarity: If you want to please the masses, steer clear of any song you know people in the office love or hate. Annoying earworms are the enemy of productivity, and it’ll be pretty difficult sending that important client email with Claire from finance belting Adele across the room.

Variety: A broad mix of genres will help to continually refresh the atmosphere to maintain focus. Plus, everyone loves a medley.

Pause the playlists

Controlling the music of any setting represents so much more than a simple administrative task. You are providing an experience. Maybe controversially, this is why I don’t believe in an “office playlist”.

It’s my belief that retail workers who are subjected to the same five songs on loop for the duration of the Christmas shopping season are the most emotionally resilient of all of us. Baby it might be cold outside (given it’s only November), but at least outside it’s not playing that same song for the billionth time this week.

As a quick rule of thumb, if the same conditions are used as a legitimate torture method then it’s probably best to avoid them in the workplace. Essentially, a repetitive playlist is one of the most effective ways to break a person’s spirit. Yes. Even their Christmas spirit.

More than anything, set playlists are wasted opportunities. It’s estimated that on average, we stop looking for new music when we’re just 30 years old. Reasons cited for this are lack of time, lack of interest, and music becoming a lower priority. But with all of the huge health and team bonding benefits of music, why would we encourage stagnation?

Beat benefits beyond productivity

For me, the crucial draw for music at work is that music creates culture. Think mods and rockers, the emo scene, grunge, punk, and reggae. Each genre is so much bigger than sound. It facilitates freedom and expression for both the individual and the collective. By allowing employees to play their music out loud, companies encourage people to share their true selves and life backgrounds, which results in greater emotional intelligence amongst the team. Particularly in group settings, music has been linked with increased confidence and motivation. It helps us find common ground, exchange cultures, and take pride in our work environments.

Another benefit of music in the workplace is simply: the prevention of silence. If in a sorry attempt to eat more quietly you’ve ever let crunchy snacks dissolve in your mouth (before swallowing each disappointing mush puddle), then you’ll appreciate the need for background music. Or, if you’re part of the 20% of people who suffer from misophonia, background noise will be a welcome alternative to listening to your colleague’s full digestive process every time they get peckish.

Background music also creates a more relaxed environment where people can freely ask questions without breaking any pre-existing silence. And while open plan offices are super fun and social, if they’re completely silent it can make it difficult to have more discreet professional conversations when necessary.

Getting into the rhythm

If you’ve read this far, hopefully you’re already dancing at your desk. So here are some final thoughts on how to get the most out of music at work.

First, ensure everyone has access to the Spotify queue. The whole point is that you get to know everyone’s tastes and recommendations. Secondly, use the Shazam App to find the name of any songs you really like — now you’ve put in a good days’ work and discovered some cool new songs. Thirdly, everyone has the power to veto. There’s nothing worse than trying to concentrate with a song you hate blaring, so just let it skip. And most importantly of all: pass your compliments to the DJ. Tell the person queuing when you like a song and they’ll probably have some more recommendations for you.

Happy listening!