Business telecommunications and IT systems

A recent study by Surrey University discovered that using a headset instead of a standard telephone handset can improve employee health and increase productivity.

The study monitored over 2,000 telephone calls and found an increase in back and neck muscle tension in people who used a traditional telephone handset at work.

People who spend more than two hours a day on the phone were most at risk of having problems with neck or back muscle tension. This can be caused by repeated cradling of the phone handset between the head and shoulder, creating a condition called ‘phone neck’. The condition is more prevalent in telemarketers, receptionists and help-desk employees. Muscle tension was significantly reduced in  people who used a headset instead of a telephone handset.

Benefits of using a headset are not restricted to employee health; the same study found that productivity increased by 43% in staff who used a headset. One of the reasons for this was that employees had both hands free to carry out tasks such as typing or looking for files during the telephone conversation. The study by Surrey University also found an 11% increase in the amount of telephone calls made by users with a headset.

Plantronics is the market leader in telephone headsets; it has been manufacturing telephone headsets for nearly four decades and offers a range of corded and cordless headsets in monaural or binaural configurations.

Headsets are also available with noise-cancelling ear pieces and voice tubes, enabling clearer communication, making a headset the ideal option for open plan offices or where there is a lot of background noise.

du Pré offers the full range of Plantronics headsets for use on Avaya, Samsung, Panasonic, Nortel and Cisco telephones. To find out more call the du Pré sales team on 01635 55 55 50.