Here is your Forbes Daily Briefing for Sunday, July 7th.

Today on Forbes, a noisy office is a nuisance and a business opportunity.

Chad West doesn't go into his London office more than one. opportunity. West shows up for strategy or creative meetings.

But when he's just trying to get work done,

he estimates that the distractions and noise

at Argent's Open Plan Office make him 40% less productive

than at home. Music escaping from coworkers' headphones and coworkers' voices pull at his attention,

while the sound of software engineers banging away at their keyboards grates on his nerves.

West, who was 33 years old, keyboards, grates on his nerves.

West, who is 33 years old, says, quote,

I don't know if it's just because we've all become a bit more psychopathic,

or maybe it's always been in us,

but I pick up on everything now.

If someone has the audacity to take a phone call in a smallish office

where people are trying to work, it grinds my ears.

More than four years after the pandemic prompted most office workers to log on from home,

many have returned to the office, whether because of employer mandates, a desire to spend time with colleagues,

or a need to escape from roommates or family.

About 27% of paid work days in the US were done from home in May, down dramatically from some 60% at the pandemic's peak, but still higher than the less than 10% before COVID-19.

As people have returned to the office either full or part-time, complaints about a longstanding-standing frustration,

the noise and distractions of open plan designs,

have escalated.

...