Thermostats

Are scientists getting closer to working out the temperature at which we do our best work?

When summer arrives and the office air conditioning goes on, chilly women resort to shawls and blankets. But this year researchers sounded the alarm, saying office temperature – the subject of considerable workplace debate – may affect more than comfort. Behavioural economists writing in PLOS One found women performed worse in numerical and verbal tests in colder rooms. Men, meanwhile, did worse in hot rooms.

In recent years, researchers have investigated the effects of temperature on productivity more generally. One study found higher temperatures led to fewer typing errors, and might save employers as much as 10% in labour costs per hour. US health and safety body OSHA recommends keeping an office between 68-76F (20-24.5C), while another paper found the optimum temperature for productivity hovered around 72F.

An industry-standard formula for setting office temperatures that relies on data from the 1960s and is based on men’s faster metabolisms was recently blamed for women’s discomfort, as well as for energy overuse. While the PLOS One study only looked at the link between temperature and productivity over an hour rather than a whole workday, it lends weight to the idea that perhaps a new standard should meet in the middle.

If the thermostat goes up a few degrees, other expectations may need to change. A dress code that requires long trousers and sleeves for men may need a closer look. Work-appropriate shorts, anyone?

This is one of the 101 indispensable things you need to know about work today. Click here to see the rest.

Image credit: Piero Zagami and Michela Nicchiotti.