When you think of a headset for business, you tend to think of two things: a mono or stereo headphone and a microphone. But headsets are much more nowadays. They’re packed with technology to improve audio quality, protect your ears, integrate with communications platforms, simplify usage, connect with a variety of devices, and more.
One of the newer headset technologies that’s both popular with users and helps productivity is the busylight.
What is a headset busylight? It’s a light integrated into a headset that indicates your status by color: green for available, red for busy. They might have other colors, too, for example, to indicate that the headset is running an update. A Microsoft Teams Headset might have a busylight that is the classic Teams purple.
Why is a busylight important for work? That’s what this blog is going to answer.
Quick note: busylight (or busy light) is the most common term for this feature. There are, as always in tech, a bunch more terms that refer to the same thing: on call indicator, in call indicator, online indicator light, or so on. These all mean the same thing.
If you want an introduction to office headsets, check out our clear, detailed Headsets Buyer’s Guide.
Let’s get into it!
Benefits of a Headset Busylight
A busylight provides a visual indication of status, which reduces friction in work scenarios.
Without a busylight, you might see a coworker wearing her headset, but you can’t know if she’s on a call or not. On the other hand, if her headset’s busylight is red, you know she’s busy; if it’s green, she’s free. And you’re able to tell her status from a distance.
It can also be used to indicate presence, showing coworkers when you’re online.
For this reason, many workplaces find that busylights reduce interruptions and have a positive impact on productivity.
They’re also are useful for home office workers who have families or roommates around during working hours for the same reason: they let people know when you need to focus. The same goes for workers in shared workspaces.
Busylights have one more benefit: they can give a visual indication of an incoming call. If you’re not wearing the headset all the time, you can set it down in view. Then, when you’re getting a call, the busylight flashes — a visual ringer, if you will.
What busylight features should you look for when shopping? It’s a pretty straightforward feature, yes, but there are a couple things to think about when shopping:
- Viewing radius. Is the busylight meant to be seen from one direction? Some busylights are designed for 360° visibility.
- Phone system or device support. Does the busylight integrate with your phone system or cloud phone service? Does it work with your devices?
- Color support. What colors does the busylight support?
- Earphone. Which is earphone is the busylight on? If you want a stereo headset, is there a busylight on both ears?
External Busylight
In this blog, we’ve talked about busylights that are integrated into headsets. There are also external busylights that you can attach to a phone, desk, door, or cubicle separator.
An external busylight functions in the same way as a headset busylight, but lets you position it to be more visible or better placed than one on your headset. In an office with cubicles, for example, the separators might prevent people from seeing your headset status from afar, but an external busylight installed on your separator is visible from across the office.