At home at work

Inside a bright, open office in Newport Beach, Scott Burris wears a

white T-shirt with no jacket and designs an advertisement with

nothing but a mouse and a monitor in front of him.

On a typical day, Burris’ workstation at HeilBrice retail

advertising is abuzz with office chatter.

His refuge: listening to a 4,000-file, 31-gigabyte collection of

songs on his computer that, he determined, would play for 127 days

straight without repeating.

Throughout the workday, Burris is plugged into iTunes, a media

player produced by Apple Computer Inc. that organizes digital music

and hooks up to the portable iPod.

“I’d die if they took it away from me,” said Burris, 25, a junior

art director. “My creative ideas come when I can zone out, as opposed

to having to hear people clicking on their mouse pads all day.”

The higher-ups at HeilBrice aren’t opposed to employees listening

to music during work. They too have methods of relaxing.

A pool table sits in the middle of the multi-wing building. A

plush lounge with small sofas and a television is tucked away in the

corner. A full drum set is planted between desks in the top

executives’ room.

The company is located on Corporate Plaza, a seemingly

inappropriate street name for an office that lacks the usual

stiffness associated with corporate culture.

Discussions don’t take place by any water cooler here. They start

up in the music studio or in the edit room, and often spill over into

real-time online conversations called instant messages.

In 21st century office life, 9-to-5 is a vanishing concept, and

feeling comfortable at work has become a necessity.

“When you spend a lot of time in your office, you have to Feng

Shui it out,” said agency producer Marcus Vadas. “We have a lot of

cram sessions. I let the tunes flow if it gets a little nutty in

here.”

THE PLUGGED IN

AND THE UN-PLUGGED

Employees such as Burris and Vadas often turn to technology to

stay relaxed during business hours. And in recent years, their

options have expanded.

A wave of sleek music players now on the market make it easy for

employees to look casual while listening to their favorite bands.

Instant messaging software, made famous by AOL and Yahoo, allows

computer users to carry on a conversation without picking up the

phone.

The popularity of these products has left company executives

wondering: Are music players and instant-messaging programs

relaxation devices or modes of distraction?

Jone Pearce, a professor at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of

Business, said it’s a question that many offices are starting to

answer.

“More organizations are looking at their policies and asking, ‘Is

this necessary to get the work done?’” said Pearce, who researches

organi- zational behavior and strategy.

For smaller companies, the rules tend to be unwritten, because

bosses can oversee their employees’ productivity and make

case-by-case decisions, Pearce said.

That’s the case at OC Web Logic, an Irvine-based Web design

company that has an office in Costa Mesa. Partner Rich Stark said he

doesn’t have a problem with employees wearing headphones or typing to

friends, as long as the work gets done.

Stark said for his designers and for those in creative fields,

listening to music can be a mood-setter. He said he tries to create a

relaxed office atmosphere.

“Sometimes these choices reflect the owners’ personality. They

don’t want to be seen as stuffy,” Pearce said.

Stark said he hasn’t seen a lag in productivity from most

employees who use music players or instant messaging.

There was one instance, he said, in which an employee was

reprimanded for spending too much of his time downloading music and

clogging up server space on the company computer.

“That forced us to look at how that person was using his time,”

Stark said.

Pearce said it’s natural for organizations to deal with problems

as they arise. Still, some companies are sticking to strict,

office-wide codes to eliminate any gray areas.

At Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co., instant

messaging is banned because all forms of communication have to be

stored for retrieval, a company spokesperson said.

Electronic devices -- including cell phones and instant messaging

programs -- must be turned off during business hours at Pacific Life

Insurance Co., whose headquarters are in Newport Beach.

“Our culture is very business-focused,” said company spokesperson

Milda Goodman. “We are focused on getting the work done and don’t see

instances of people pushing the limits.”

NEW USES

FOR NEW TOYS

Still, some offices are getting creative with technological tools.

PIMCO founder and chief executive Bill Gross is preparing to post

his monthly newsletter on the company website so that it can be

downloaded into iTunes.

A music composer at HeilBrice is making the company’s advertising

jingles available to employees through iTunes, as well.

Instant messaging is often the preferred method of communication

at OC Web Logic and HeilBrice, one of whose clients is the Los

Angeles Times, parent company of the Daily Pilot.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is also taking advantage

of the technology.

Portable music players are being used to tape expulsion hearings

or to record meetings, said Steve Glyer, the district’s director of

educational technology.

And though students are typically banned from using instant

messaging and listening to music during school hours, teachers are

encouraged to use them in the classroom.

Eva Wagner, a teacher at Woodland Elementary School in Costa Mesa,

uses iPods to record her first- and second-grade students reading

books.

“They know they have an audience and are excited to hear

themselves,” Wagner said.

Added Glyer: “If kids can record a lecture and use these tools in

the right way, that’s an asset to the classroom.”

‘EVERYTHING’S ABOUT COMFORT’

Along with jeans and short-sleeved shirts, headphones are part of

the office attire for many HeilBrice employees in the creative

departments.

Composer and audio engineer J.P. Parenti keeps a pair of guitars

on display in his first-floor studio, where commercials are recorded.

“Everything’s about comfort,” he said. “We’re trying to create an

atmosphere where musicians feel no pressure and have the freedom to

take risks.”

Cubicles are nowhere to be seen at HeilBrice. Pets are allowed to

roam free. UC Irvine’s Pearce said it’s all part of what some

companies are doing to placate their employees.

“That’s what makes it fun around here,” said Robert Guevarra, the

company’s director of operations. “As much stress as we go through

here, these things make it easier to get through the day.”

WHAT’S AN EMOTICON?

In the absence of body language, instant messaging parlance has

adopted a new way to display emotion -- the emoticon.

HAPPY

:-) smiling; agreeing

:-D laughing

TEASING

;-) winking; just kidding

:-T keeping a straight face

AFFIRMING

:{circ}D “Great! I like it!”

:-o “Wow!”

UNHAPPY

:-( frowning

:-< really sad

:’-( crying and really sad

:-| grim

ANGRY OR SARCASTIC

:-@ screaming

:-r sticking tongue out