For decades, employees have fought for the right to plug in their headphones, and turn up their favorite music while at work, with employers frequently coming down on such suggestions quite angrily. While the former always argued that being allowed to do something enjoyable, such as listening to music, would have a helpful effect on their overall performance, the latter were afraid of the exact opposite.
So which one was right? Can music help us with work performance? And are there prerequisites to reaping the beneficial aspects of music in the workplace, like listening to a specific genre, for a set time?
First, let’s go back a little.
While modern workplaces are cracking the whip more sternly on music at work, the two concepts have been intertwined throughout our history. If we look back at human history, we can clearly trace the origins of most music genres to sailor shanties, and to peasants singing in the field, while they worked. These were people who worked long, dull, and difficult hours, and would’ve probably lunged at anything to make the day go by a little faster.
So right off the gate, there seemed to be this notion that listening to (or singing) beloved songs while working could make your day easier. Indeed, former violinist and author of “Whistle while you work? A review of the effects of music in the workplace”, Karen Landay, seems to agree:
“Think about romantic visions of peasants singing as they harvest, or sea chanteys sung by sailors as they work on their ships. And since most people enjoy listening to music of some kind in at least some contexts, it’s perfectly natural to feel that music must have some sort of positive impact on our work.”
During World War II, the BBC had the rather brilliant idea to use musical programs to motivate and cheer up depressed Brits, at work. The now-infamous BBC program “Music While You Work” premiered in June 1940, and carried on all the way to 1967. The concept behind the program was to air 30 minutes of music on the radio, twice a day, for factory workers to listen to while working. Understandably, as the country was rocked by the greatest conflict known to man, the program was a tremendous success.
As we see, music has always been, in some form or another, associated with working, and so, it seems only natural that it should continue to be.
Music makes you more productive
We’ve often heard this argument – from unruly teenagers, cranking up the stereo too loud while they study, but also from peaceful adults just wanting to put on a bit of calming music as they work. But is there any truth to the claim?
A study conducted by TotalJobs seems to point towards a resounding yes. The main idea here is that listening to music will arouse you (of course), which in turn will result in a boost in productivity. As such, working with your headphones on may actually mean you get your tasks done quicker than you would without them.
But as we’re often told, if it’s too good to be true, it may be. Or rather, there might be a catch. In this case, the effect of listening to music while you work does give you a boost in performance. However, this effect is only temporary, as you experience the initial state of arousal, which then naturally fades. For instance, you may reap such productivity boosts as you listen to your favorite music for, say, thirty minutes, or a limited time. But don’t expect this effect to last forever
Still, it seems to us that even temporary enhancement is better than no enhancement at all, right?
What kind of music?
Any type! As a 2005 study showed us, in order to reap these unusual benefits of listening to music, you need to listen to anything that takes your fancy. The study - which primarily looked at the effects of relaxing music on 10 and 11-year olds- found that you could get the same effects from jazz, and even rock music.
The idea behind that was that it’s not listening to a world-recognized genius, or some specific sound per se that impacts our cognitive abilities and skills, but rather listening to music that we consider “genius”. This is why, today, you’ll get young people saying they can’t focus unless they’re listening to Kanye West or Miley Cyrus. And you might think to yourself “but how could that ever compare with the genius work of Mozart, for instance”? Except, in the minds of these young people, it does. In fact, for them, this music may actually seem a lot better than Mozart.
That’s because the positive effects of music are heavily influenced by the way we personally perceive music. So getting back to the elevator music in offices issue - this latter study suggests it would be more advantageous for employers to simply let each employee choose what music they listen to on their headphones, including, if they like, listening to none at all.
What other benefits does listening to music at work have?
We’ve seen that music can improve your spatial reasoning skills, but are there also other upsides to rocking out while at work? Apparently, yes. Another 2005 study, led by Teresa Leisuk, entitled “The effect of music listening on work performance”, came up with a few interesting findings of its own. The study itself focused on the positive emotions elicited by listening to favorite songs (or compositions) while working, and the way those positive emotions can, in turn, impact our work:
- Participants in the study who’d experienced positive emotions through music showed more creativity in problem solving;
- While the study found that the overall quality of work was only marginally affected by listening to music, participants reported that the music helped them detach from the problem, and not get “tunnel vision” while focusing on a particular task;
- Ultimately, the study concluded that whether or not music should be played in the workplace depends on the people working there. According to its findings, many study subjects experienced a “learning curve”, especially if they weren’t keen music listeners beforehand, meaning that their output was actually worsened temporarily by the music (although it, also, later improved).
So, should you listen to music in the workplace?
The evidence we’ve amassed in writing this point towards a hearty yes. It seems listening to music while you work can definitely impact your work performance. Though keep in mind that no two people are the same, and what is for someone the ideal working music, might be jarring and distracting for you.
We suggest experimenting with a few different styles of music, such as relaxing piano music, coffee shop jazz, and even your favorite genre (rap, rock, pop, etc.), to find what works best for you.
If you are out of ideas for what sort of music you can play when you sink your teeth into the next big project, why not head on over to Radio Art’s designated Music for Work Channel? Designed especially to soothe, and support brain activity and productivity in the workplace, our dedicated radio channel aims to put you in touch with music that is relaxing and conductive of creativity, to improve your work output.
