Boss never asked anyone else for their assessment of my work (like, maybe, the end users?!) My understanding is that to get a similar level of noise reduction in earbuds, you need active noise cancelation. I have no idea if thats this employees primary role or not though. Since when do headphones = not an adult? Theres no company anything about it. 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Why you need it has exactly no impact on your bosses or coworkers and you do not owe them any more detail than that you need weekly medical time for X number of weeks. I CANT wear earbuds, as I wear hearing aids instead, and even before I got the hearing aids wearing earbuds was horribly uncomfortable. in fact i would say earbuds are a worse problem because it can be harder to see them so people will start talking to you and then you have to take them out and have the person repeat themselves (this used to happen to me a lot). Do you have to listen to music in order for the noise cancelling to kick in? I realize there is a big customer service (even when the customers are internal) aspect to IT. Smiling and saying other than needing the time off, its not something that should affect or be exacerbated by work, its just one of those annoying niggles thats better taken care of now so it doesnt become a serious nuisance. then changing the subject basically assuming that the manager is asking from a place of concern and checking if you need any accommodations and assuring them you dont should satisfy most people? I work in a very small office and no HR. Do we have that flexibility? Speaking as a former EMT, literal emergency responders emphatically *do not* work on a drop everything basis. Alisons answer touched on it vis-a-vis what the expectations of the position are but if the expectation really is drop everything whenever somebody comes to the desk that may point to a deeper process dysfunction. if Im the smartest, most knowledgeable person in the room who has all the answers to everything, Ive done a terrible job of hiring my team. Isnt it easier to answer incoming phone calls if you are already wearing headphones/earbuds? L.W. you know what, a good chunk of this might be frustration at the awful new uniforms my store is making us switch to but in response to the headphones thing.. suck it up. There are a couple of problems with this line of thinking: -Someone who needs headphones due to a medical condition often doesnt look any different from their peers. Clothing is essential. I cant imagine any appreciable difference in the time needed to remove them, and the looks bad part is just ridiculous. CAN she make such a policy decision based on her belief that other people are as bothered by the brief delay it takes to remove headphones (but not by the delay it takes to remove earbuds)? Were in an extremely loud open office, and my back faces a busy thoroughfare leading to one of the few meeting rooms on our floor. Smaller companies likely wont have someone dedicated only to end-user internal support, but larger companies very much will. Im usually Jennifer in the situation! Be considerate of other peoples time. Could be addressed by always having one person actively available covering the helpdesk function while the others concentrate, though, rather than a blanket ban. There are tons of noise-cancelling earbuds, though. Its a stupid, ridiculous rule. Dont expect your team to know whats expected if you havent set any boundaries or policies around headphones in the workplace. People look at me strangely when I talk about my injuries. Honestly, is this a hill youre willing to die on in order to enforce? 2) Have you put them so their desk is facing away from where people usually approach? Its just basically never a good idea to assume that someone owes you their immediate attention. Further, even without earbuds, workers must not be on their smartphones while performing work or near any operating equipment. No five second wait while they pull out their earbuds or take off their headset. Between this and the letter yesterday with the CEO who hates ticketing systems, Im wondering what people have against just letting us tech folks do our jobs in logical ways. Does your concept of work not include the need to ever listen to sounds? Theyre not precisely bellowing or yelling at each other; they all have very deep, resonant voices so boomy was the best I could describe them. I beg of you. Lost password? Cheerleader: Gimme a W! In many situations, companies have been found liable for employees who were making business-related phone calls or text messages while behind the wheel. % The lyrics provide an unstimulated mind with a slight escape. Not in a rude way as in saying when you bother to show up can you shut up about your problem, but more in a I know you are dealing with a rough time but I need folks to be able to focus on work kinda way. Theres nothing reasonable about any of that. In this post, well provide clear workplace guidelines about when and how to best utilize headphones for the office environment. For workers whose day is filled with repetitive tasks or monotonous work, listening to PLDs can keep some workers stimulated and more productive. She is. Thats unreasonable and bordering on tyrant levels. If they came up and said oh hey, I meant for that rule to take effect this minute, please dont use your headphones. I would use one of those lines you suggested. Ill act like a normal person and walk over to her., (Personal opinion anyone should wear what they want. Also, what exactly is the difference between waiting for someone to take off earphones and waiting for someone to pull out an earbud? I also have issues with people noticing me wearing earbuds since I have long hair and you cant see my ears. Should I let a company know that Im declining their offer because of how long they took to get it to me. Yeah, I read it the other way at first but upon rereading, I think youre right. A written electronic device policy for employees protects you, the worker, as well as your employer and eliminates any confusion about what is acceptable in the work place. But I find this rule to be a little unreasonable IMO. Ive had to tell customer service reps who have heavy phones they have to remove their headphones. ADA issue? Establishing open ears rules that keep them focused on the job can help you avoid costly accidents and create a healthier work environment. also, someone might be on the phone, or concentrating and finishing their thought, and youd still have to wait. If you really understand the abuse cycle then you would know, NCO or no NCO that this type of thing is common. I have two I.T. No facial hair? Its obvious that they are going to push back hard on this, especially if you end up pushing further and banning earbuds too cause surprisesurprise, earbuds didnt solve the unnerving problem whatsoever. You could passive-aggressively enhance that assumption by unconsciously touching your knee/back/shoulder while saying that you need physical therapy. I agree with Alisons comment that if these are help-desk type roles where you expect/encourage a lot of walk-up traffic and are trying to create an approachable vibe, thats one thing but if these are IT staff with broad responsibilities or the help desk has a phone/ticket system/catch-all inbox and some people just prefer to approach in person, then I dont think in a healthy office environment that the need to look approachable to that limited group of people who have a personal preference for walking up to the desk should trump the benefit to staff of using the headphone style most comfortable/preferred by them to reduce distractions and increase their productivity. They could have handled it better, but maybe they wanted to discuss with HR as to how to discuss with their manager in a tactful manner, especially if their tenure started prior to the manager beginning. Which is pretty long. Its like, if Im wearing blue jeans right now and if my boss pulled me into their office right this minute telling me that the new rule was to wear red pants, I would not assume it has to happen ASAP, because I dont have red pants. And because manager is being ridiculous considering headphones/headsets are also used for online meetings and such. Give me a break. Im anxious AF when Im lurking around waiting to get someones attention but I shoulder that burden myself, I know its a me thing. My ear is always on the verge of being itchy and flaky/crusty and I have gotten infections before from my itching it too much. Work doesnt have to be a nest of distractions either. I wonder if OP is also unnerved by approaching a techie, finding them on the phone, and having to wait before interrupting them since presumably waiting for a telephone conversation to finish takes longer than the four seconds it takes to remove headphones. Would I run to HR? Based on the note (and I might be wrong) it seems, manager had a conversation with employee. (Im super thankful NOT to have an open office. Apparently there was a lot of misunderstanding in how the PM perceived my work performance. It was the manager asking the employee why they werent complying with the rule that they had just spoken about. Another tiny ear person chiming in! And if you lose interest, it's always easy to unsubscribe with a single click. When someone is wearing headphones at my work, I gently wave at the side of them to get their attention without touching them or scaring them. Oh yes. Theyre your employees, not your servants. The headphone thing seems a bit much and not something I would push if you want to keep otherwise good employees around. Nope. Most of the time when Im wearing headphones, its because there is so much conversation and noise all around me that I literally cannot hear myself think. Refer to Duties of workers . I can definitely imagine a scenario where I weigh the relative pros and cons of one more afternoon with the earbuds, which the manager might see and get upset by, vs the fact that Im about to be on an hour long webinar/conference call/training video and my 2 officemates will definitely have to endure and will definitely be upset by. Its about the quality of work and its about the quality of life the people who are doing the work have at the office. Even if they are perfectly normally shaped, if you have TMJ the ear buds will hurt. They help people get into a groove, and they send a clear sign to others that you're busy. The ones I got were made by Sony and about $40 from Best Buy. There will still be a momentary pause while they take the buds out. They may have an ADA accommodation that was approved. That can be very dangerous in some work situations. For example, Earbuds in, but I am available if you have a question. Or, I am wearing headphones for time-sensitive work. Its not about adult vs. not adult. I know its not always the default; there are plenty of shitty managers out there, but really the default should be NOT inquiring for more specifics. But then I realized this was probably not customers coming up with questions but colleagues dropping by with IT requests/questions in the middle of other, more headphone-appropriate work. I guess it could be interpreted as in the moment though. interviewing with a service dog in my lap, boss thinks Im a stonerbecauseI called out on 4/20, and more, I desperately need breaks between my back-to-back meetings, I manage a gay employee and our company is homophobic, a coworker told me I talk too much, Im still ruminating over a job I didnt take, and more, should I invite my team to my home for dinner, will my company expect me to work with my ex, and more, after I hired someone, a mutual friend told me Id made a huge mistake. If you need to be able to respond to people, having only one earbud in will allow you to hear people enter your office/cube. Useful, yes. Customer service is about immediately responding. Earbuds are worse for ear health, so if the headphones are not noise-cancelling headphones that prevent a person from having normal workplace communication, it doesnt seem like a hill to die on. Many, many women go back multiple times. Someone might work in a small IT department that supports internal clients and also performs maintenance and upgrades that require some time to concentrate. Earbuds are uncomfortable for some people, theyre also not noise-blocking like headphones can be. I would have probably pushed back and went to HR too at that point, since there wasnt enough give and take for this random rule that was being imposed on them, despite having had no issue until one day being pulled into an office and told to stop. Also, many workplace "Acceptable Use Policies" would allow this, so long as the usage does not impact the performance of business systems. Defiance? Posting easy-to-ready safety signs about your headphone/earbud policy will make your message clear to workers, visitors and inspectors. Be aware that laws may change over time. There are a lot of roles that have a mix of responsibilities. I wont say that this is absolutely factually the case, but at least I usually consider a perk to be something more like my company gave me a pair of expensive noise-cancelling headphones rather than Im allowed to do a normal thing that theres no business reason for not allowing me to do that latter (and also, that if there is a business reason that its not appropriate to grant exceptions as a reward) I do consider to be a given. Earbuds hurt my ears. And that it appears there is a sufficient lack of communication between boss and employee. I have a bit of tinnitus (ear ringing) and earbuds tend to make it far worse than headphones. and I had no idea he had that backdoor distorted-information channel going on. I could go on &on but I had to get physio for all those injuries. The humanity! No wireless or quick charging. And I have to say, I find it absolutely amazing that *a grown-ass adult* cant cope with waiting the 5 seconds it takes to remove them. Im not saying I agree with this, but I think they see taking out earbuds as a lot easier and less showy. Alison is likely right that the blanket headphone ban isnt the best solution to whatever the root problem is, if there really is a problem beyond the OPs perception. Going to the desk of one of the support staff was a way users would try to jump the ticket queue and get their issue taken care of immediately. More work, less noise: headphones in the workplace I find it amusing that its viewed as a power play by the employee but not a power play by a manager who randomly decided to remove headphones from their department, without even a days notice. Not so much. Unless the idea is that they can always hear you through earbuds, it is unreasonable to insist on them when the issue is getting their attention and wait time. Im not doing surgery, Im looking to help. OSHA's standard for Occupational Noise Exposure in construction, 29 CFR 1926.52, sets permissible noise exposure limits in Table D-2 and requires the employer to protect employees subject to sound levels exceeding these limits. Not by dealing with whoever is in front of their face at any given moment. Completely cover your ears to block outside noise, Provide a clear visual indicator that youre not available, More portable and better for frequent travel, The larger size can mean better sound quality, You dont need to put anything inside your ears, Earbuds can be shared with another person. Managers shouldnt be making arbitrary rules that get in the way of doing a job without a business justification. Not only does that set up a very adversarial power dynamic, but you miss out on the collective brain power of a lot of really smart, talented people who might have information you dont have that would affect your decisions that way. I need my noise-cancelling headphones. Boeing bans headphones, forces employees to stand still - GeekWire I use the small earphones, but not the goes-inside-the-ear types that look like plugs. Yeah, but my boss aint my wife, and theres a lot of things you do to keep a spouse happy that you dont do for your boss.
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