Worried about all those employees with headphones in their ears all day? Maybe you shouldn’t be.

A recent survey by staffing agency Spherion founds that about a third (32%) of employees listen to iPods and other music devices at work. And 79% of those folks said it improves their job satisfaction and productivity.

What’s interesting about that info is that the other 21% don’t get a productivity or satisfaction boost from listening to music, but do it anyway. A big chunk of them probably become less productive.

Data like that makes a good case for laying off of rules about headphones at work and focusing on performance instead. But some ground rules about how employees use those devices can prevent data security problems. For example:

1. No downloading mp3s at work. That can leave the company network open to virus attacks.
2. No connecting the devices to work computers. Transferring data between personal devices and work computers can create a back door through IT’s security controls.

Tags: employees, iPod, mp3, personal devices