Noisy Coworkers And How To Deal With Them

Regardless of whether you work in a major corporation or a little firm, you and your colleagues undoubtedly have to cope with noisy and/or disruptive co-workers. How do you handle this ticklish situation? First, you have to decide just what you feel you can bring yourself to do about it. Here are several helpful suggestions for keeping your cool and maintaining relative peace and quiet in the workplace.

If you really want your noisy coworkers to tone down their noise levels, you need to figure out why and when they are noisy. Noisy coworkers are often clueless about their noise volume or noise habits that are obnoxious to those around them. Others may be more intentional in wanting to annoy or bother people with their noise.

First you will have to confront those that are causing distractions but don't realize that their habits are triggering a negative reaction. These types of people often feel that the noise they are making is far less disturbing than the usual office noise that occurs on a regular basis.

A really good example of this is "Mr. Sniffles", you know the person sitting next to you during cold and flu season, who instead of blowing his nose thinks it is better to sit and sniffle all day long. These noisy coworkers make you want to invest in tissue companies. Maybe someone should just politely tell them the behavior is bothersome - or better yet, in the case of Mr. Sniffles, just offer them that tissue!

Another type of people are those trying always to be the center of attention. They can be hard to manage as they strive to be noticed, with hopes of moving up the ladder of success.

This kind of individual doesn't leave you with many coping options aside from trying to achieve a meaningful dialogue. If that turns out to be fruitless, you will have to discuss the situation with a manager. Let's face it, you will still be expected to perform your functions. And you may just find that, given the productivity-hampering activities of this difficult colleague, there may be other co-workers who are just as distressed as you are.

Loud coworkers are a common issue in many workplaces today. However, there are a couple different solutions that can be undertaken that will help you maintain your sanity in a room full of noisy coworkers. Office noise can be easily prevented by simply speaking to the co-workers. Often, they don't know that they are being noisy, but indicating this to them can often get them to stop. Sound masking may be required on your end to ensure that the noise isn't overwhelming. Ultimately, the person that you're dealing with may be unconcerned with their noise, so telling them about what they're doing may be necessary to quiet your workplace.

- Frank Barnett