Individual music listening in workplace settings

Abstract

Increasing access to listening technologies (MP3 players and digital file formats) and the internet has contributed to a new era of listening to music in offices, where many employees listen to music through computers and personal listening devices. While many studies in the past have examined the effects of researcher-selected music on work performance, no studies to date have explored office workers’ music-listening patterns, what they listen to and why. This article reports the findings of a survey that used a holistic approach to examine music-listening practices and experiences in office settings in the UK. Nearly three hundred (295) office employees provided quantitative and qualitative data on listening patterns and experience. Previous research has focused on positive mood and negative effects of distraction on task performance, but this study identified additional significant functions: inspiration, concentration, positive distraction, stress relief and managing personal space. Employees listened to music for a third of their working week, and reported listening to a wide variety of music styles and artists. Music helped them to both engage in and escape from work, and they often used music to seal themselves off from the office environment. Employees managed their listening practices so as not to disturb colleagues or appear unprofessional in front of clients. Managers and employees can benefit from recognizing the importance of employees being able to select their own music, and the multidimensionality of workplace music listening is also of interest to therapists, office designers and music technology developers.