Time Management Technique: Use Your Thermostat to Increase Productivity

May 9th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Have you ever walked into an office and been hit by a blast of freezing air? The longer you remain there, the more uncomfortably cold you become. It is great to be able to live in climate-controlled environments during extremes of heat and cold. However when the summer arrives, instead of being comfortable in lightweight clothing, you have to don sweaters and jackets when indoors because someone has decided to drop the thermostat.

It is ironic that during winter months, when you are more layered with clothing, the office temperature is frequently higher than in summer months. Now there is evidence that these uncomfortably cool temperatures actually affect productivity. Studies by Alan Hedge at Cornell University’s Ergonomics and Human Factors Laboratory montitored an office’s air temperature and employees’ keyboarding. The results:

At 68 degrees, workers typed for 54% of their time, with a 25% error rate

At 77 degrees, workers spent 100% of their time typing, with a 10% error rate.

Conclusion: Warmer workers were much more productive.

Another study found that workers who were dressed for a chilly spring day (not in lightweight summer clothing) did best between 73 and 75 degrees. Why are we chilling our offices to 68 or 72 degrees during the warmest months?

Cost Savings:

$2 per hour for each affected employee

5% in cooling costs by raising the thermostat 2 degrees

lowered greenhouse gases

cutting fuel consumption

When managing time counts, how can you afford not to raise that temperature in the office?

Tags: Changing Times · Time Management Strategies

1 response so far ↓

1 Debbie Gilster // May 10, 2007 at 9:25 am

Denise -

Very interesting data. I certainly will share this with my clients.

I have walked into many businesses where the staff is literally fighting over what the temperature should be in the office. Up and down the thermostat is raised. I’ve thought…”Don’t they have work to do? How unproductive.” I can see the cost implications of all this effort. You’ve done a good job of pointing it out even further.

This situation has happened in my own small office. My assistant is hot and I am cold. She is a tad older than I am and we think it is just her season of life. I solved this by purchasing a decent upright floor fan she has next to her desk. When I think about it, I turn it on before she gets to work so her area is cooled off. I did it to save energy costs. Now I can also use the arugument that she is more productive when it isn’t so cold.

I know I personally work better when it is warmer. Now I have some data to back up the reason. Thanks for the information!

Debbie Gilster
Chief Productivity Guru at the Center for Growth & Productivity
http://www.CenterForProductivity.com

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