Turn Up the Heat: How Temperature Affects Productivity

Thursday, September 8, 2011

It seems like the end of summer is when temperatures swell the most, which can severely affect the output of a worker. Is your office thermostat primed for worker efficiency?

Ideal Temperatures

If you ask workers in an office about their "ideal" temperature for a working environment you will likely end up with varying reports. Certainly everyone has their own preferences but when it comes to the hard numbers, the findings may surprise you. In 2004 Alan Hedge, a professor of design and environmental analysis at Cornell University, found that as the temperature increased from 68-77 degrees Fahrenheit, workers' accuracy and output also increased.

One of the tasks tracked in this study was typing speed: As a room got warmer, the overall amount of typing went up 150% and errors dropped by 44%.

Hedge also found that the heat and productivity scales stop growing together at around 75.2 degrees, when the temperature starts to become a detriment to performance. Further, researcher Schweisheimer found that performance dropped by over 20% when temperatures hit 90 degrees.

The Right Range Saves Cash

Air conditioning is expensive. Depending on where your office temperature is now, setting the thermostat to somewhere between 70-75 degrees could save money. Alan Hedge noted in his study that raising the temperature can save a company $2 per worker, per hour.

Try this at Work

Since insulation and outside temperatures vary, these studies need to be taken with a grain of salt. The temperature of a work environment can be a sensitive subject for employees. Try paying attention to the thermostat as-is for a few weeks, then move it up (or down) by 2-3 degrees and see what happens. Are people seemingly more productive? Are they complaining about being warm, or cold?

Moving the thermostat incrementally will provide benchmarks for measurement, and ultimately an ideal temperature for both productivity and comfort within your office.