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An overly chatty coworker on top of an already noisy office environment can make work an absolute nightmare, to say the least. Having to deal with office noise on a daily basis just increases the pressure of dealing with deadlines and other job expectations.

There are 10 steps here that you can take if you are having a problem dealing with noisy coworkers. Of course they are not all guaranteed to do the trick, but at least one idea should work to bring about a serene working environment. The most important thing is to address the issue before it gets worse.

First, try talking to the offenders. Some people may not realize how loud they are and a simple recognition of it may help. If this doesn't calm the situation, second, talk to their supervisor about the problem. Supervisors or managers should have more clout for suggesting a resolution.

If that doesn't work, perhaps a discussion with Human Resources would be the third option. Fact is, unless you're in a one-man office, employees need to find ways to work together. HR should be able to provide options or counseling between employees if the issue is getting heated.

The simple method of shutting your office door is a fourth option for minimizing having to deal with office noise. Of course,this is not a possibility for you if you spend your days working in a cubicle, but you can still encourage others to give you some room. If they don't listen, then you should go for the fifth option, which means sending out an email to the appropriate supervisors outlining your position in the matter.

If email isn't available to you, then sending a memo offers a sixth option. Address it to the offending party or to his or her superior, or you might even remove all names and just post it in a common space to generate some discussion. By nature, some people are loud, and they may not realize that their behavior is annoying until it is brought out in the open and their attention is focussed.

Your next option is to seek a relocation. There are two ways to go about doing this. First, you could request that the other person move to a new workstation. If that doesn't work, you could offer to move your own desk space, to get away from the overwhelming noise. Moving might not always work out, but if you ask a supervisor to relocate you, he or she may take other action on your behalf as well.

The ninth option would be to create your own personal, non offensive background noise. For example, running a computer can sometimes provide enough white noise to cover any outstanding noisy coworkers, and it might be just enough for you to be able to concentrate again. This is the polite way of drowning them out.

Finally, the tenth option would be to start non-hostile conversations with others. Maybe other employees have also noticed the problem and were afraid to bring it up. If enough people agree there's an office noise problem, there's bound to be a way to resolve it; maybe a 'noise intervention' with coffee and donuts would be a pleasant approach.