‘Quiet Hour’: Employees’ Time to Think

The telephone keeps ringing; other workers keep asking questions; the boss schedules another meeting.

It’s hard to work or think efficiently surrounded by such normal but distracting interruptions, so a “quiet hour” has been set aside for accounting workers at Contel Service Corp., western regional headquarters for Continental Telephone Co.

They reserve 8 to 9 a.m. to work on long-term projects, research, reports or other creative work that requires concentration.

The “quiet hour,” officially called “Achieving Maximum Potential,” was instituted last fall because the accounting department staff works in a large open area, making it hard to sneak into a quiet corner to concentrate.

“It’s like an invisible force field we can create to allow us one hour of quiet time,” said Ted Carrier, Contel’s staff manager for general accounting.

“The managers can close their doors to get a quiet moment,” added Carrier, chief architect of the project. “The rest of us don’t have offices and don’t have doors we can close.”

The Bakersfield office is Contel’s headquarters for 10 western states, and employees throughout the region are accepting the idea that they can’t telephone the accounting department between 8 and 9 a.m., Carrier said.

“During AMP hour, employees aren’t involved in meetings, errands, running printers or other distracting activity,” Carrier said. “So far, we’re in unanimous agreement that the program has been extremely successful.”

“Most people outside the department run hot or cold on AMP hour,” he added. “Some felt it was an inconvenience, but most thought it was very favorable.”

He added that the staff is “flexible. If there’s an emergency during that hour, we will respond.”

Donnal Miller, who processes the regional payroll, said she received just one emergency call between 8 and 9 a.m. during the first month.

“We’ve just informed personnel that this hour is not a time to contact us,” she said. “And most people think this is a good idea and wish they could have a similar program.”

Dan Speidel, a general accounting supervisor, said he never had time to “get the important things done” before the advent of AMP. “I used to spend my time doing urgent things instead of important things.”

Patty Ross, a general accounting supervisor, said workers make a game of seeing “how much we can get done during the hour. I had one project on the back burner for several months, and I was able to complete it in seven AMP hours.”

And Carrier says he’s more willing to delegate more projects to the staff because “I know they have AMP hours to get the work done.”