Office noise is a rather delicate subject which can lead to problems in the workplace. If you are the type of person who needs absolute quiet in order to concentrate on the work at hand, a loud coworker can make your life miserable.

The following list of ten ways to deal with unacceptable office noise levels should enable you to find an effective solution to this issue. Of course, not all of these will work with some types of noisy coworkers but they are all worth a try until you find the best solution for everyone.

The first thing you can try to do is to discus the office noise problem with the chief offenders. Sometimes this is all that it takes as they may not realize the how disruptive they are being. If all else fails, have a frank discussion with their manager. Generally they can effectively deal with the situation.

If all else fails, enlist the aid of your Human Resources department. It’s essential that coworkers exhibit teamwork in today’s workplace. This includes resoling differences as to what constitutes acceptable behavior in the office which HR should be able to mediate if necessary.

Another way to concentrate when office noise becomes too much to bear is so simply close the door to your office if you are so lucky as to have one. Unfortunately, if you work in a cubicle this is not an option. Try to persuade your coworkers to carry on their conversation somewhere else explaining that it is disruptive. If all else fails, the next option is to put your thoughts in an email. This should convey why the excessive noise is impacting productivity and be sure to copy the offender’s supervisor on the email.

If email isn’t available to you, then sending a memo offers a sixth option. Address it to the offending party or to his or her superior, or you might even remove all names and just post it in a common space to generate some discussion. By nature, some people are loud, and they may not realize that their behavior is annoying until it is brought out in the open and their attention is focussed.

There are a couple of other ways to deal with noisy coworkers. This involves changing the office configuration so that the noise makers are moved further away from you or that your space is moved to a quieter location. While you might not be able to succeed in doing this, it surely will bring the noise problem to the attention of those in a position to do something about it.

The ninth option would be to provide your own background noise. A white noise machine or white noise generator may provide some relief. If your focus is on your work responsibilities and the white noise provides a distraction, perhaps the noisy coworkers will not be as noticeable to you.

The tenth idea is to begin politely addressing the issue with other coworkers. There’s always the possibility that others have been bothered by excessive office noise as well and were hesitant to say anything. If it turns out to be an issue for lots of people, then surely they will want to resolve it. You might bring in some coffee and donuts and have a friendly meeting with everyone to come up with some solutions.

The following 10 suggestions are ways to address the problem of noisy coworkers. First, try talking to the offenders. second, talk to their supervisor about the problem. Enlist the aid of your Human Resources department. The simple method of shutting your office door is a fourth option to deal with office noise. The fifth option is sending out an email to the appropriate supervisors outlining your position in the matter. A convenient alternative to email would be sending a memo. changing the office configuration. The ninth option would be to create your own personal, non offensive background noise. The last option is to initiate a non-aggressive conversation with someone.

- Frank Barnett

We all come across some noisy, loud mouth coworkers during our working careers. We have to deal with them some times by telling them politely to stop but it is not necessarily successful. At other times we can try to be creative and take the help of others in this. Just by doing a comical gesture to tell someone of his or her annoyance may sometimes bring positive results and quiet the noisy worker.

There are a couple of ways to silence a coworker who insists on poorly whistling or singing his way through the work day. You can start by simply ignoring the offending coworker, by bringing your own music, or by using headphones to ensure that the coworker’s humming, singing, and whistling cannot be heard.

If this does not work very well then try something that everybody who is annoyed with this coworker can participate in. You could even do something funny like, have everyone sign a written petition to get them to stop and post it onto their computer screen for when they come back.

A petition is one thing that will allow you to solve the problem as a collaborative group. You will get the coworker to stop without singling yourself out as the only reason for him to stop the irritating noise. Therefore, the unhappy coworker will not get mad at you and a friendly atmosphere can be maintained in the workplace. It will be funny to see the reaction of the coworker.

If general office noise, such as the sounds of typing, talking on phone, and the noise of copier machines, annoys you then a temporary solution would be to simply unplug everything that makes noise. If this doesn’t work and you don’t get fired, try moving all your belongings to the basement or other quiet place. People will soon notice your protest and comply.

So whenever you do have a problem coworker, or just frustration with the general level of noise around the office, put some creativity into coming up with a solution. There are a variety of different, creative ways to tell someone something in a way that will not offend them.

Encounters with less than amicable coworkers are inevitable. In spite of how irritating those coworkers may be, you will still have to cope with them on some level. Sometimes, telling the Annoying coworkers that they are bothering you doesn’t do the trick, and the situation calls for more drastic measures. You can start by simply ignoring the offending coworker, by bringing your own music, or by using headphones to ensure that the coworker’s noises cannot be heard. So if you have problems with a Noisy Coworker, or just the general Office Noise associated with work, then put your thinking cap on and get creative.

- Frank Barnett