We have all probably hear the old saying “whistle as you work” and have an image of the traditional, happy worker it conjures up. For me the image I get is that of a man from a simpler time performing a traditional, repetitive task, such as building or painting. The task at hand is second nature to him and requires very little thinking so ingrained is the work in his muscle memory and the whistling is merely a useful distraction to help the time pass a little more quickly.
The image certainly suggests a link between a worker’s mood and a little musical accompaniment, but it doesn’t tell the whole story, does it?
Perhaps his co-workers were so annoyed by his whistling that they looking on at him with murderous intent. Perhaps if he had needed to concentrate more than he did to complete the task the whistling would have been the first thing to go.
Whatever the truth may be, today, we are going to take that traditional whistling worker and place him in the modern workplace. The first thing to change will be the traditional image of him as a man doing physical work. The modern workplace is an equal opportunities employer, or should be, for whistlers and non-whistlers alike, personally I prefer non-whistlers but perhaps I am just a grump.
The second will be to substitute his whistling for an iPod playlist and, possibly, a nice pair of headphones. One person’s treasure is another person’s trash has never been truer than when it comes to music.
I think that most people would agree that there is an undeniable link between music and people’s moods. Anyone who has ever been having an awful day when suddenly that amazing pop song from their youth came on the radio and they felt themselves transported to a different, happier place will agree.
However don’t just take my word for it as the scientists come down overwhelmingly on one side of the argument. Hearing a song we like gives us a dopamine reward similar to when we eat food we really like or meet a person whose company we really enjoy. Dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins are the four horsemen of human’s feel good factor and dopamine is the one that is based around achievements and rewards. When humans get something they desire such as a romantic partner, a good meal or a new job the feel good neurotransmitter dopamine is activated and we feel good as a result. Well, listening to music we like can have a similar effect as is further examined in this BBC news article with a link to more academic studies should the interest arise.
So, accepting that music can have a positive effect on our mood that brings us to the second part of the question. Can music have a positive effect on our productivity at work? And the answer is? Well the answer is there are a lot of answers and a lot of them contradict each other.
Most of the information available on the net will proclaim the productivity enhancing effects of music in the workplace and this may be in part connected to the broad cultural movement away from the stuffy office environment of the past towards the more liberal workplaces integral to the culture of the new tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter etc.
This Linkedin article is representative of the many articles available on line which emphasize the positive link between listening to music and productivity at work as is this New York Times article. The former being worth clicking on for the excellent infographic, entitled whistle while you work, coincidentally, alone which depicts the scientific findings between music and productivity in a variety of contexts.
However despite being fundamentally positive about the music/work relationship both these articles share the caveat that listening to music can impair cognitive abilities if the task in question requires you to learn new skills or involves linguistic skills such as writing.
Therefore while music can improve performance in skills which require a lower register of concentration, for example if the worker has already performed the task many times before, it can impede tasks which require deeper concentration.
In this sense the positive modern perception of music in the workplace may have more in common with the traditional image of the whistling workman than merely a catchy title for an infographic in that music may positively affect our mood and productivity if we are performing tasks which are by now quite easy for us to perform but may impede us in performing those which are more difficult for us and therefore require greater levels of concentration.
Indeed there is a growing field of thought that goes one further and believes that listening to music while we work is detrimental to our productivity levels but fools us into thinking we are getting more done because we are enjoying ourselves as explained in this short video by Daniel J. Levitin a cognitive psychologist from McGill University and author of the book This is your Brain on Music. Who advises workers to use music as a reward and stress reliever at regular intervals during a short break instead of having it on while doing cognitive tasks.
The above phrase is an old saying which stems from the opera world and was adopted by the sports world to mean it isn’t over until it’s over and so the music in the workplace versus productivity debate continues.
It is undeniable that music is a powerful mood booster and stress reliever, as long as it is music we like, and we should harness its positive effects in our working lives as much as possible. However there remains a variety of contradictory opinions on whether it increases productivity.
Personally I would subscribe to the above mentioned theory by the psychologist Daniel J. Levitin as I find it impossible to write with music on in the background but perhaps that’s just the nature of the job I do or a personal idiosyncrasy.
At the end of the day the sweet spot between your performance and music in the workplace is a line you have to negotiate with yourself, your boss and your colleagues and what works for you works.
Written for CareerJunction by Mark Dempsey.
