My team works in an open area with high wood beamed ceilings. We digs the open concept, but not the noise when 4 or 5 people are talking on the phone all at once.
We're looking for some desktop mounted, low profile acoustical screens / dividers. A google search reveals a bunch of manufactures in the UK, but nothing in the US. I emailed some of them and unfortunately they don't ship to the US.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Love this questions, since this is something we have been tackling in my current company and several other very rapidly growing startups I have been part of where we love the open design (but not the noise)
Solution has to be systematic. If you have the money - hire professional office interior designer, but be prepared to spend about $2K per seat.
If VC money is not flowing into your account, your options are mostly limited to DIY.
Low profile acoustical screens will have almost no impact. Those are more visual. Solution has to be systematic. In order for a screen to have any significant impact, it has to be at least 4 feet above the desk.
So what do you do?
Hope this helps a bit. I have been doing heck of a lot of reading on this subject and talking to pros, since half of my team are "quiet people" (tech, ops, production, etc.) and half are "loud people" (sales and marketing) - environment ripe for tension due to noise levels.
Have you looked at something as simple as Japanese rice-paper dividers? You would be surprised about how much just having something for the sound to bounce off us will help your problem.
And those come with the added benefit of being able to fold them up to open up your work space when you need it.
You should be able to get those at a Peer 1 Imports (depending on your region) or an Ikea.