Fast Company’s Eve Upton-Clark reports on a survey by the career development firm TopResume on piped-in Christmas music’s effect on worker productivity.
The key is BPM – beats per minute – in the song. TopResume cites research showing that 50 to 80 BPM “is optimal for focus and productivity,†Upton-Clark writes. “When background music at a workplace is out of sync with what workers need to get on with their jobs, it can affect their energy and mood – and even performance.â€
Holiday songs that hit the BPM sweet spot include Nat “King†Cole’s version of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting),†Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,†Whitney Houston’s “Do You Hear What I Hear?†and the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Christmas Time Is Here.†Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year†and Ariana Grande’s “Last Christmas†were too juiced on BPM.
Upton-Clark’s report:
(via https://artsjournal.com)
People who have to spend their working hours with Christmas tunes in the background, especially tunes that lay on the merriment with a trowel, probably spend much of January with the cultural equivalent to post-traumatic stress disorder.
I once got a taste of an especially ghastly playlist – B- and C-list stuff, likely from the late 1950s and early ’60s, judging by the tinny sound and relentless cutesiness– being piped into a medical facility where invasive procedures were performed. I imagined that the practicioners’ wanted, more than anything, to finish what they were doing as quickly as possible, and flee to a quiet place. Medical people are trained to endure a lot, but three or four weeks of this?
