Harmony – July 2024
Did you know that music can actually help create a more harmonious workplace? It’s true! Back in the day, from 1940 to 1967, the BBC radio programme Music While You Work played uninterrupted popular music on workdays in the UK. The idea was that music played at a constant pace would boost the productivity of factory workers. And guess what? The idea has withstood the test of time. In today’s modern workplace, music has emerged as a facilitator of productivity and a booster of employee morale. But it’s not just about personal enjoyment – there’s also a strong strategic element in the choice of music. It can foster a dynamic work environment, with an impact not only on employees but also on customers and ultimately profit.
A Harvard Business Review (Can Music Make You More Productive? (hbr.org) ) suggested that when music is played at the right time and for the right task, it can have a significantly powerful impact on productivity. This is especially true for monotonous or routine tasks, where music keeps the brain engaged and alert, and the employee distracted and in a good mood. It’s important to note that not everyone reacts the same to the same type of music. The key for businesses is to curate playlists that not only resonate with the different groups of people it’s trying to engage, but that are also appropriate to the time of day, customer expectations, and business style. A café playlist at 11am would be vastly different from a retail outlet selling clothes to teenagers. Businesses need to put considerable thought into the music they play. It’s more than just hitting play on the latest releases or using a generic playlist. The music in any work environment should align with the company culture, employee preferences, and customer expectations.
Study after study has shown that music not only improves mood but also reduces stress levels. And as shown in the Harvard Business Review, this leads to higher engagement and productivity. In essence, when employees feel good, their quality of work and their levels of satisfaction with work increase.
Research carried out by IMRO in 2024 supports these assertions. The research focused on a wide range of businesses, including retail, restaurants, bars, offices, hair and beauty salons, leisure centres, factories, hotels, and waiting rooms. Each of these premises has a very different customer base, business focus, corporate culture, and thus use of and requirement for music. Encouragingly, the overall reaction to the impact of music was consistent.
When querying the impact of music on business, customers unanimously acknowledged that music positively influenced the customer and business environment by transforming the atmosphere and enhancing productivity.
The breakdown of the various options within this statement also produced very encouraging results:
- 85% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that playing music creates a better atmosphere for customers;
- 75% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that playing the right music can be beneficial to their business;
- 68% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that playing music improves productivity and staff morale;
- 35% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that customers stay longer if music is playing.
Separately, business customers expressed a desire to learn more about how music could be used to have a more positive impact on their business. Which leads me nicely back to the Music360 project, where the focus of the research is gaining a holistic understanding of the use and value of music and ultimately its impact on revenue. For its part IMRO will once again focus on the use of music in business. For a CMO such as IMRO, to be able to advise businesses on the music to play that would best suit its customers, employees, corporate culture, and revenue ambitions would be a valuable addition to its current offering and should greatly enhance its relationship with its licensees.
Music can be a strategic tool to provide the heartbeat to a business. Embracing the power of music and letting it play a lead role in our professional lives could be revolutionary. And in many cases, it only takes a little fine-tuning to achieve the harmonious workplace that we all desire.
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