The human race has developed over thousands of years in all kinds of areas: technology, art, language, culture, food… Yet our instincts have remained largely unchanged. We are still more or less the same as our ancestors who roamed the savanna more than 100,000 years ago. Our savanna instincts make it hard to thrive in offices and other indoor environments – that is, unless we create the right conditions.

Perhaps you sit near a passage where colleagues walk back and forth on their way to the coffee maker: Every time someone walks by, you look and register their presence, consciously or unconsciously. Or colleagues moving behind your desk space: Your conscious instincts go into alert mode – you get stressed and distracted from what you should be focusing on. Or you hear a loud ring tone a few desks over: You listen and note all or parts of the conversation. Does this sound familiar?

All of these situations awaken the instincts of your inner savanna man. Instincts designed to protect you from threats and dangers. Good to have on the savanna, but far less practical when you have one hour left to prepare your presentation. This issue is backed up by research that suggests that whenever you are interrupted, it takes 15-20 minutes to get back to a work task that requires focus.

So, is there nothing you can do about it? No, quite the opposite! The good news is that all these distractions are easily removed. Both auditory and visual disturbances can be removed completely or significantly reduced. As you probably already know, at Zilenzio, we have been working scientifically since 2004 to remove noise – that is, noise caused by human speech.

Our efforts have taught us a lot about what materials actually work, what dimensions they need and how they should be placed to maximize their positive effect. But we have also learned to include the visual aspect – that is, to dampen distracting movements in the indoor environment AND provide aesthetically pleasing designs.

For the effect to be real, the ears and eyes must have the right conditions. An effect that creates well-being and happy employees, counteracts sick leave, and lowers staff turnover. So, make sure not to awaken your inner savanna man unnecessarily. Instead, get your work done with minimal stress and maximum efficiency. Please contact us for more information.

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