24 April 2014 – Today, global research commissioned by leading music streaming service Spotify, reveals how listening to music in the workplace leads to happier employees and boosts office morale and creativity.
Nearly two thirds (61%) of people revealed they listen to music while at work with Adele topping the list as most popular (16%), followed by Arctic Monkeys (14%), and folk four some Mumford & Sons coming in third (13%).
Spotify’spartnership with Dr.Anneli Haake, an expert on music in the workplace,whose own research took place in hundreds of offices and showed that music can provide relief from stress and improve concentration, supports Spotify’s research that shows over a third (36%) of workers find that music helps to get them through the day, while a fifth (20%) find that listening to music is a welcome distraction from their “boring” jobs.
While people clearly feel music makes them more productive at work, 16% admitted that they listen to music to drown out colleagues. Furthermore, workers need to choose their tunes carefully as the research revealed that one in ten (10%) revealed that they have judged a colleague based on their choice of music.
Spotify’s research also shows that the most popular genre of music in the workplace is pop/chart music, with over a third (34%) choosing it as their preferred genre, closely followed by rock (29%).
Spotify and Dr. Haake’s top office playlists to match your mood include:
- To block out background noise from chatty colleagues:
Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys
Dr.Haake said: “Select music that uses several different instruments and has a steady sound and tempo to increase concentration and block out office distractions.” - For motivation:
We Can’t Stop– Miley Cyrus
Dr.Haake said: “If you want to use music for motivation or to stop daydreaming, select something that you like and that makes you happy –something rhythmic, pumping or upbeat.” - For concentration:
Drunk in Love – Beyoncé
Dr.Haake said: “For the easily distracted, listen to a track you know well for a lesser level of distraction.” - When you need a pick me up:
Get Lucky –Daft Punk ft. Pharrell
Dr.Haake said: “Reward yourself with your favourite tune for three minutes after working hard. Get out of your chair and do a little dance to get the blood flowing to increase the flow of endorphins which are vital to reducing stress.”
Angela Watts, VP of global communications for Spotify, commented: “We use collaborative Spotify playlists to keep us going in the office – so everyone gets to contribute their own guilty pleasure and no-one takes the flak for their love of showtunes. What’s particularly interesting from this research is that attitudes towards listening to music in the workplace are changing – whereas people may have once raised a few eyebrows by playing music in the office, it’s finally been proven that this not only boosts morale but creativity and productivity too.”
Dr. Haake adds: “One really interesting thing for me during this study was the way that listeners seemed to balance their individual music needs with the demands in the workplace.People were really careful about not disturbing each other, or appearing unprofessional in front of clients.
“We know that listening to your own music makes people happy – and a happy worker is likely to be a more productive one.”
A bespoke Spotify playlist has been developed to provide the ultimate soundtrack to the working day, incorporating tracks to help get office workers through the 9 to 5.
