What if there were stats that proved/showed an employee could work in a certain scenario or environment thus besting their productivity when compared to the normal setting? What I am talking about here is virtual cubes. You just hop into your cubicle and can set your desired scene. Some people can probably work best at the beach with those happy and sunny sounds strumming their eardrums all day as they respond to emails or type up meeting minutes. For me, I'd work best while at my local pool. What would happen in my virtual cube would be a steady pumping of chlorine and Swedish fish smell coupled with the sounds of background chatter, diving board pops and splashes, and feet running in puddles. Act now and get the added sound of the snack shop door opening and slamming shut complete with the squeaky/rusty coil-spring bringing the door back to it's home state sound.
In the end, I'd be more productive if this were the case. I'd be listening to the pool rather than the guy behind me talking loudly with his office door wide open, the guy next to me using speaker phone ("hands free") to listen to an entire teleconference or better yet checking his balance on his phone bill, and the people across from me talking about how funny the email was they just got from their Aunt Janice where they needed to respond to a list of categories with answers that start with the first letter from their name. Name something that reminds you of summer and starts with a C.....crows.....LOL, glad you could share that with me out loud. All of this time and pressure and stress could be relieved with new and advanced "virtual surrounding cubicles". Try one out today. Our best seller so far is the virtual beach, picture yourself zoning into your work with gulls pleasantly squalking and the surf slapping. Order now and get a complimentary tan.....The newest option available is the Cafeteria setting, never work again without the background noise that is silverware clinging....New for 2009.
Sorry about that....back to my thought....maybe people work best with the actual office sounds that come with the joys of real cubicle land. Thus forcing companies to offer that as a virtual scene option, actually probably the default option in most systems. Who wouldn't want to work while hearing typing, talking, teleconferences on speaker phones, people clanging their bracelets on their desk, and those special moments when someone decides to cut their nails at the desk next to you. Haha.
An optional item would be the scenery option. Companies can opt to allow the scenery option where the pool or other environments are actually visible. Likely a distraction, this will probably be removed as an option in upcoming years.
There would have to be some things worked out for this model, for instance there would need to be an off switch for when your phone rings or when someone stops by to ask you something.
But could you imagine if they knew that I worked at a 45% higher rate with my pool setting versus when I have it turned off, or the 13% more productivity rate with the laundra-mat sound and smell display activate. That would be soothing and smell nice I suppose, I could probably work with that going down.
Take care
