Workplace music tangibly impacts workers, yet it’s often left to chance by playing the radio or streaming playlists made for customers. Misaligned audio has negative consequences for employees: it can decrease mood and lead to cognitive depletion, a new Ohio State University (OSU) study details.
According to Kathleen Keeler, co-lead author of the study and assistant professor of management and human resources at OSU, “Music misfit can lead employees to feel more fatigued, have trouble focusing and not really enjoy being at work.”
Workplace playlists have a well-earned bad rap, and it raises the question: How does a company use music well?
The short answer? Allow employees control over auditory input on an individual level. The holistic answer requires a look at the fascinating history of workplace music, sound’s impact on the brain and the technology that can help everyone harmonize.
Learning from workplace music history
Music and labor were intertwined long before “productivity playlists” existed.
Sea shanties synchronized sailors as they collaborated on group tasks, like adjusting sails. Railroad workers sang songs to coordinate hammer swings. Little Orphan Annie and her companions sang “It’s the hard-knock life…,” establishing camaraderie as they endured poor working conditions.
These workplace songs all organically originated from workers. Then came the idea to systematically hasten work speed through imposed workplace music.
Factory workers in the UK were subjected to this in the 1940s through the 1960s, courtesy of the BBC’s Music While You Work program. Researchers have critically examined this practice, addressing the utilization of music “to exert ‘emotional control’ over spaces of work.”
These are examples of functional music, songs used for a specific purpose. The grassroots examples illustrate how functional music can be a positive tool—but not when it’s imposed on a group without consent.
The risk of imposed music
Kevin Woods, Ph.D., is the director of science at Brain.fm, a streaming platform for research-focused functional music. He describes imposed music this way: “There’s something going in your ears that’s meant to control your behavior, and you don’t have a say…. That’s a problem, and people catch on pretty quickly.”
Studies criticizing the use of music as a form of control date back decades. And beyond the ethics, it’s simply not productive.
“To create a soundscape that encourages productivity, you have to start with the recognition that most music is counterproductive,” Woods says. Understanding this requires an examination of how music impacts the brain.
Music’s impact on the brain
Sound’s effect on the brain is still not fully understood, making it easy to underestimate. Background sound can relax, stimulate or agitate us. Certain frequencies can potentially fight Alzheimer’s. The spectrum is almost incomprehensible.
The brain’s complex relationship with sound is almost certainly beyond what the average business owner considers when turning the radio on. Understanding the role of music production helps contextualize it.
“If I’m a great music producer… my job is to make you turn your head and start listening to the radio,” Woods says. “The majority of music in the world is made to grab your attention.”
This isn’t always negative, depending on the attention required for the task at hand.
For example, stimulating music may benefit someone who’s sorting a large stack of files. But the same music could derail them later that day when they’re writing a stressful email.
Choosing music for a group of workers would require catering to everyone’s:
- Neurodivergences
- Music preference
- Work tasks
- Mood
Background music could never be tailored to all of these variables for more than a single person at a single point in time—and this doesn’t even account for workplace aesthetics. A bank has different aesthetic needs than a pet store. An employee stocking shelves has a different attentional capacity than the manager creating the upcoming schedule.
The idea of a single “productive” soundscape to play for everyone quickly unravels, but focus can be positively impacted using music (when leveraged correctly).
The realistic goal of workplace music
What’s the end goal with audio in the workplace?
“It’s productivity, but on your terms,” Woods says.
Give workers control over what type of music they listen to and when. Not only is this approach more ethical, but it’s also more effective.
If workplaces must play music, aim to reduce distraction and allow users to opt out. Consider how some individuals are more sensitive to sounds than others, specifically in regard to neurodivergences.
Allowing users to choose music based on their own preferences is where “focus music” can have an actual positive impact.
Focus music
Auditory stimulation has the potential to enhance focus. Many music genres make this claim: lo-fi, binaural beats, frequency music, white noise, nature soundscapes and classical music, to name a few.
I’ve personally tried all of these. Research-backed or not, anything that vows to improve focus can be found in my Spotify archives. It was this exact pursuit that led me to Brain.fm, which promotes science-backed music made for focus.
Woods emphasizes that this music wasn’t designed for shared, collective consumption. A key distinction between Brain.fm and imposed functional music is listener personalization and autonomy.
This can only be offered to workers through personal music delivery.
Personal music delivery in the workplace
Music transitioned from a more communal experience to a deeply personal one with the rise of personal music players. The Walkman moonwalked onto the scene in the 1980s, ushering in this era. By the time free music streaming platforms like Spotify Dougie-ed to mainstream prominence in the 2010s, private listening was synonymous with modern music consumption.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for auditory autonomy in every work environment, but technology exists to offer workers more control over their audio input.
- Bluetooth earbuds: Commonplace and budget-friendly. Some earbuds, like the AirPods Pro 2, also function as hearing aids, so wearing them in group settings is becoming more normalized.
- Adjustable earplugs: These allow individuals to opt out of background noise when it’s unavoidable. Some brands, like Loop earplugs, allow users to self-regulate noise levels with adjustable in-ear settings.
- Bone conduction headphones: Popular amongst runners, this technology transmits audio through the bone instead of the ear canal. This is a form of open-ear headphones.
- Sound beaming: Enables open-ear audio consumption without a wearable device. It delivers sound waves directly to a user’s ear, remaining inaudible to adjacent workers.
Conclusion
Sailors’ sea shanties did more than just coordinate physical labor: some songs also expressed frustration with the captain.
Modern workers aren’t likely to break out in song to vent about management, but annoyance with background noise can manifest in tangible ways.
Employers who give their workers auditory autonomy aren’t just showing them respect—they’re facilitating a more productive environment for everyone.
Photo by Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.
