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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.
...but it does nothing to help with cold fingers. And when my fingers get cold, they get stiff. When my fingers get stiff, I can't type as well.
Common sense, really.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Which is why I doubt the AC is gonna be lowered anytime soon. It would be a battle between HR and upper management, and while certainly a glorious battle it would be, uppper management usually wins.
100% of the time? Does this seem a little high to anyone else? Don't people take breaks for bathroom, /., etc?
Add another problem: warmer temps mean lighter/less female clothing. The effects of this on male productivity should be obvious.
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
I work in an office that gets very cold during the fall and winter and I have noticed that my typing speed decreases dramatically when my hands are cold.
In the study, which was conducted at Insurance Office of America's headquarters in Orlando, Fla., each of nine workstations was equipped with a miniature personal environment-sensor for sampling air temperature every 15 minutes.
Wow, what a meaningful sample size.
That, and the references to keyboards and accuracy makes it sound like it's purely a study of a typing pool to me. Probably female, probably requiring little in the way of creative/critical thinking, just a cosy space to get on with the tiresome task of earning a dollar.
This passes for 'research'...? Oh dear.
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.
Those data don't warrant the conclusion "Warm Offices Boost Productivity."
The improvement could simply be a result of the change. The gains might not be sustained over time. Lowering the temperature another 3 degrees six weeks later could also yield an improvement.
A change is as good as a holiday.
Warmth may seem great when you lack it but then the same can be said for coolness.
sweatshops...hence the productivity increase.
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
See this is why hawaiians can come up with things like a G4 emulator at 80% host speed.
I agree with you 100%
My motto is very simple
When its cold you can always put on more clothes.
When its hot you can only take off so much before your arrested!
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I had an astrophysics prof in college from India who said in class, I kid you not, "It is very warm in here. It puts you to sleep. Maybe that is why the cooler northern countries have been historically more advanced industrially." Dunno if there is any truth to that but it certainly woke me up.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
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.
People who always bitch about it being "too cold" and try to get the temp increased are one of my big pet peeves.
and it's ignorant clods like you that make my GF's work life difficult.
she has Reynauds, a condition tha tcan cut off the circulation in her fingers if exposed to low temperatures... Yes a half hour in of 67 degree temperatures WILL trigger this condition. Many other people also have circulation problems.
Her last boss was so stupid that it took us filing for disability for her on his ass as well as a lawsuit on him for creating a hostile work environment before he turned the temperature back up to 70.
Maybe these people "bitching" have a real reason.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The funniest thing about that? Most office thermostats are placebos.
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.