How Music Helps Increase Productivity

Listening to the symphonies of music legends such as Beethoven, Mozart and Mahler has been my passion for long while working. Recently, I’ve added, Pundit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pundit Ravi Shankar, world renowned Indian instrumentalists, to my list of all time favorites. The music is so mystic and gives an out of this world experience. It converts work into pleasure seamlessly whereby you are not actually working but entertaining yourself for hours together.

You will agree with me friends that when you sit to work you might be in different moods. You might be happy, sad, angry or excited. The very nature of the human mind is to be in one or more emotional states every waking moment. But your work demands an emotional disposition suitable to your work. As a computer programmer, I need to listen to light instrumental music at times to set my mood right. When I listen to music I discover that my pace of thinking is also influenced by the ambience. On certain days, I start off feeling too low and take more than the usual time for completing at work at hand. American Ride by Toby Keith makes my mind alert and work at a Stallion’s pace. Of course, I listen to it through my earphones in office because others might not like my taste. The centralized music system in my office always plays soft numbers which put us in the right mood.

“There is a general movement toward a more employee-centered workplace” According to Joyce Gioia, President Herman Group, North Carolina, business consultants and futurists “Music is complementing this trend beautifully.” Read more about this on BNET.

Many retail outlets play music these days. Billboard hits, Jukebox numbers and music from local bands are being popularly played in shopping malls and departmental stores. The effect is dramatic. Every person, customer or salesman, seems to be in high spirits. The customer automatically feels more relaxed and takes time to browse through the articles on the shelves. Clever marketing aims at increasing sales by making visitors stay in their shops for longer time. The longer the customer stays, the more tempted he’ll be to buy the attractive ware in front of him. The sales people on the other hand, having a hectic work life, will be in a more jovial and receptive mood when listing to music. As a result their customer service quality improves and as you might be aware one of the most essential criterions for increased sales for a retail outlet is good customer service. By the way, are you aware that even some shoppers hang around and visit your store regularly for the ambience?  This is where your shop has an edge over others. Just conduct a survey of the favorite numbers of your customers, play them and see people remaining glued to your shop for hours. They simply will not want to leave and even if they do, visits to your shop will turn out to be an addiction for them. This works well with young and old alike.

Along with music, corporate houses are arranging for meditation and life skills enhancement classes to improve the productivity and well being quotient of their employees.