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Warm Offices Boost Productivity
bluelip writes "It looks like the real reason for offshoring is corporations looking for warmer weather. Instead of paying the energy bills to crank up the heat in the office to a more productive temperature, the offices are moving to warmer areas. This article shows a 44% error reduction and 150% increase in productivity for those working in warmer offices. Will this increase in output be enough to convince my boss to pay for us to vacation-commute from a tropical island?"
68F = 20C
/my/ productivity goes way down when I'm asleep.
77F = 25C
(for those of use that use Celcius)
25C/77F is very warm. I prefer to work around 21C/70F. Any warmer than that and I'd be falling asleep. Certainly
T.
I'm forwarding this on to my facility manager. It's freaking COLD in here! And it's not just in the winter that it's cold - it's ALWAYS cold in here. Someone decided to put a ton of servers in the next room, and the servers like it cold, but guess what? There's no way to isolate the two areas. Yeah, it affects productivity - we're always huddling around our space heaters shivering rather than typing.
Oh, and now we're not supposed to have space heaters. Thank God for surplus AlphaServers...
From Article: When the office temperature in a month-long study increased from 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, typing errors fell by 44 percent and typing output jumped 150 percent.
This is a well-known phenomenon, first seen in the Hawthorne studies. One of the first productivity studies was in a factory where the researcher first reduced the light, and productivity increased; then the researcher increased the light, and productivity still increased. The end result is that worker productivity increased indirectly merely by changing the work environment.
Maybe that's why we keep getting reorganized....
I don't see things in black and white; I see the gray. Heck, I actually see in color, which makes things more difficult
This seems to be an interesting story. I'm not sure that I'm more productive when I'm warm (probably a bit of the opposite if it gets too warm), but I do find that it helps me to make less errors. I guess I never thought about it like that before.
See, when my hands get cold I tend to make more typing mistakes. One of the computers in my office has a vent blowing right across my hands when I use the keyboard on it. If I work on it for too long (I'd say over an hour and up) my fingers tend to get cold and my typing rate goes down. I guess it's probably due to a lack of flexibility in my fingers.
Still, I think I'd prefer that to having my office set at 77 degrees. That's almost uncomfortably warm for me, and It'd probably just put me to sleep.
-Through the server, over the router, off the firewall... Nothing but 'Net!
I know people who are obese and keep their houses at 73 (way too warm for me) because they're always cold. It has more to do with metabolism (mine's like a freakin' mongoose) than your weight.
Muscular people are usually warmer than fat people because muscle burns more energy than fat.
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
Women, on average, have a slower metabolism than men. This is due to them having a higher, on average, percentage of body fat (due to the natural features that women have). Thus, women produce less heat than men, on average, and like their environment to be slightly warmer.
There is nothing wrong with pointing out the phyiscal differences between sexes.
I have never worked at a company where there was an issue with men turning the heat up, which causes discomfort for others, just because they were a little too cold.
I've just signed legislation that'll outlaw Russia forever. We'll begin bombing in five minutes.
What is even worse is when someone (I won't say women) adjusts the thermostat in the computer lab because they are too cold. Computer labs are SUPPOSED to be cold. You crank the ambient temp up to 75 degrees F and you are asking for trouble with the servers. It is amazing that some people in the software industry don't realize this.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Too much heat gives me headaches and causes co-workers to spend time complaining its too hot.. Doesnt improve anything...
"warm" as an abstract word is useless..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
The funniest thing about that? Most office thermostats are placebos.
Oh, and today we will have a high of 94F and 84% relative humidity.
(I'd kill for a 70F or less office!)
Here in Florida I'm lucky if my AC can handle keeping the temperature at 78! For us, 85 is warm, and 75 is a comfortable cool. You pampered bastards...
Best. Webhost. Ever. Dreamhost.
All those workers in India (or other locations where development work is being outsourced to) work in COOL Air Conditioned offices - translation - being productive has everything to do with body comfort and nothing to do with excessive warmth in the office.
As someone above has said, it may have more to do with a change than to do with the actual temperature.
All views my own. Anyone else with the same views needs to have his/her head examined.
just before reading the article as far as I know not such warm climate is optimal :)
see
http://www.usaweekend.com/00_issues/000116/000116b iology.html
Pay attention to air quality. Cool, dry air, especially on your face, helps keep you alert, while heat and humidity make you drowsy. Studies show that mental performance, such as rule-based logical thinking, can be reduced by 30% at temperatures not even warm enough to cause sweating. So keep the room at 70 degrees, the average optimum temperature for mental work in the United States. (Not everybody shares the same optimal temperature -- some are "cold-blooded"; others are "hot-blooded" -- so you may need to adjust up or down.)
see also http://schoolstudio.engr.wisc.edu/energysmartschoOptimal Thermal Conditions Thermal comfort has been shown to influence task performance, attention spans and levels of discomfort. In general, historical empirical studies going back 50 years have indicated that temperatures above 80 degrees F tend to produce harmful physiological effects that decrease work efficiency and output (McGuffy, 1982). Thermal conditions are below optimal levels affect dexterity, while higher than optimal temperatures decrease general alertness and increase physiological stress. One researcher (Harner, 1974) when reviewing optimal temperature levels for the performance found that reading and mathematical skills were adversely affected by temperatures above 74 degrees F. Reading speed and comprehension were most affected by temperature. A significant reduction in reading speed and comprehension occurred between 73.4 degrees F and 80.6 degrees F. This researcher also found that achievement is mathematical operations such as multiplication, addition and factoring have been shown to be significantly reduced by air temperatures above 77 degrees F.
Yes, but summer in Antarctica is still freaking cold. Winter in Chicago is warmer than summer in Antarctica. An average summer temp of 0C at the coast and around -30 on the plateau. Where is Dome C? On the plateau.
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Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
So, now everyone else in the office has to suffer because your girlfriend has some disease? I don't think so, bub. Tell your girlfriend to wear gloves.