Studies have found that office workers are interrupted on average every 3 minutes. This adds up to around 2.1 hours of wasted time daily! If you’re sick of constantly being caught off guard by your co-workers and find that you can’t seem to focus on a task for very long, a busy light may be just what you need.
What is a busy light?
It’s essentially a lamp that can change colours to let the people around you know when you’re available or don’t want to be disturbed. It can come in many forms; on a nameplate, a power board, a headset, or a wireless lamp.
It kind of works similarly to a traffic light. When you’re free to chat, you simply switch the busy light to green. When you’re on a phone call, you turn it to red. When you’re working on a project and are deep in the zone, you can let people know not to disturb you by switching it to purple.
What are its benefits?
The busy light comes with a range of advantages that have been recognised globally in the form of many positive reviews.
Decreases interruptions, increases productivity
When you’re in the flow state, the last thing you want is for your co-worker to interrupt you with a remark about the weather. Even the fear that you’re going to be interrupted can make you less focused! There are so many different forms of interruptions and the majority of them just aren’t important, or aren’t as important as getting your work done.
A busy light takes some of the stress out of working by reducing the likelihood of being interrupted. This means you can relax and have confidence that you’ll get your work done in time. By allowing your co-workers to immediately see whether you’re occupied or not, you can eliminate pesky interruptions and become so much more productive!
Let people know when you’re free to talk
If you work for a company where you’re frequently making business calls using a headset, it may be difficult to tell when your colleagues are busy on a call or are simply just wearing their headset. A busy light can help make your co-workers’ statuses more obvious. With a single flash of colour, you can indicate whether you’re free or not. Too easy!
Yield better customer service
Not only can a lamp improve the productivity and happiness of you and your colleagues, but it can also help create a better experience for your clients. Having a call interrupted by a staff member can make a customer feel unimportant and may even make them less likely to continue with the call and potential purchase. This can jeopardize both present and future relationships with your clients. Having a lamp can reduce the likelihood of this occurring and ensure that you and your colleagues remain focused on giving your full attention to the client at hand.
Improves office accessibility
The lamp can also benefit workers who have hearing or visual impairments. This is achieved by using clear, easy-to-interpret colours for increased accessibility and visibility.
Incoming and missed call alerts
Status colours and sound tones can be set to let you know when you have missed a call or message. This is convenient as it helps to prevent calls and messages slipping through the cracks, which can cause frustrations for you, your colleagues and your clients.
Conclusion
The busy light comes with a range of benefits for increasing productivity, accessibility and wellbeing in the office. To maximise your workspace, consider investing in them.
