How to politely ask a coworker to turn down the volume on their notifications?

Question

Side Note: I'm in the US, and I chose to ask this on IPS as I'm viewing it as a coworker interaction rather than enforcing company policy

I'm a summer intern at a tech company, and my office space is usually fairly noisy. This is just due to the nature of our desk layout, and the fact I'm seated next to a couple clusters of teams. I don't mind the noise necessarily, but there is a coworker near me whose smartphone and computer notification sounds are incredibly loud and distracting.

The pings are rather frequent, leading me to believe they're either fairly busy or chatting with people during work. However, I don't want to make any assumptions about their workload/work habits when I approach this interaction.

How do I politely ask a nearby coworker to turn down the volume on their computer/phone notifications?

Answer 1

I prefer the direct approach - "Hey, man. Would you mind dialing the sound on your phone back a bit? When it dings for notifications, it's really distracting."

Avoid saying "you" or "your", as that's going to tend to make it more personal, and it could feel like you're attacking the person, instead of addressing the issue, which is the volume of the notification.

Then smile a lot and be very appreciative if they do it. If not, you haven't lost anything, and it's unlikely they can make it worse. Moreover, it's very likely other people find it distracting/annoying, too.

Answer 2

I used to work at a very large, very well-known tech company, the cool kind with the coffee bar downstairs, and the pool tables, and whatnot. The company had an open office plan, which meant no high cubicle walls, and very few places to get away from the constant background noise of hundreds of people talking and typing.

The solution? Wear headphones. Everyone did, especially the developers who were trying to focus and get work done. There was no other option.

But let's say your coworker's notifications are so loud that you can hear them even through whatever background noise you've got going through your headphones. In that case, you're probably not the only one who is annoyed.

Yes, you can confront your coworker directly. However, it's not unreasonable to go to your manager, and explain the problem:

Hey Lisa, I need to ask your advice. I'm trying to do my work, but it's just so loud I can't concentrate. Is this normal? I'm wearing headphones with the music turned up, but I can still hear most of the racket in the office. There's people talking and phones going off really loud every few minutes and all kinds of distraction. I just don't know how I'm supposed to be effective in this environment. What can I do?

In an ideal world, your manager will send out an email asking people to keep the noise level down, and you'll get voluntary compliance from everyone, including your offending coworker.

Also, after you get some support from your manager, it should be easier to go to your coworker and remind them of the policy:

Hey Frank, man, could you turn down the volume on your devices? I can hear them even through my headphones. Thanks!