Before you just ask me to quit, let me contextualise. I work as a graphic designer in a very small agency with two other people — one other designer, and an admin assistant/intern who doesn’t really do any design. All of us multitask to various degrees while we work. We all have headphones in and listen to music. Sometimes I listen to YouTube internet mystery videos instead of music, and have the video as a little picture-in-picture pop out while I work. I have never turned anything in late to my boss, and am often just sitting around waiting for client responses or for my boss to make executive decisions on where projects can go. The intern is a little more bold about it and watches Netflix on half her screen, but then again she barely has anything to do.
I can’t speak for either of my colleagues but I personally have severe ADHD and can only actually function when I am multitasking. I am never doing just one thing at a time or I get understimulated and my executive dysfunction kicks in. Having my headphones in is what has helped me be as productive as I’ve been. It also isn’t just a matter of listening to any music — my boss is blasting music from the speakers in his office at all times of the day and sometimes this irritates me to the point that I have to put my own headphones in or not get anything done.
This morning my boss sent us an email that began like “I sincerely appreciate all of you at the company,” and then proceeded to ban us from using headphones at work and/or watching videos. Not having videos pop out in the corner is one thing I can give up or work around, but I genuinely am not sure how I’m going to make it through an eight hour workday without headphones when everything is now stacked against my productivity. I don’t even know if I should try and reason this out with my boss because I am an international graduate and he’s going to sponsor my work visa if I’m successful in the H1-B lottery coming up. It’s too late for me to find a new employer before visa season and I can’t just quit. Does anyone have any advice at all on what to do? I’ve literally just been sat here for an hour after the morning meeting unable to function. It feels like a lose-lose situation.