The Effects Of Temperature On Our Workplaces

A recent blog post of ours discussed the idea of the optimum office temperature (22^oC, in case you’re wondering). But when researching it, we discovered something interesting – that figure is mostly referring to general productivity. In fact, depending on your industry and what kind of work your company does, there might be a range of other temperatures better suited to getting the best results from your employees. So which one is best for you?

Warming Up To The Idea

Over the years, there have been quite a few scientific experiments carried out that measure the effects of heat and temperature on employee performance. One international study suggested that warmer environments are better for creative thinking – when asked open-ended questions, test subjects were able to give more original answers than in chillier conditions.

A warm environment has another tangible advantage too. It’s a well-known fact that someone holding a warm drink perceives others as more generous and caring. The same effect can be achieved by using air conditioning to regulate a room’s temperature; people in warmer rooms are more likely to harbour warm feelings for those around them, encouraging co-operation and teamwork.

Overall, the results of these studies seem to hint at the fact that larger companies, or businesses with big teams of people, might benefit from using their heating and air conditioning systems to maintain slightly higher temperatures to foster work-place relationships. Better teamwork, after all, eventually amounts to better productivity, making it a good argument in favour of keeping your office warm.

Keeping Things Cool With Air Conditioning

Don’t go adjusting your system just yet though – there’s the other side of the coin to consider, too. In one experiment, two groups of students were asked to pick the most cost-effective mobile plans. One group made the decisions in a slightly cooler room, while the others made it in a slightly hotter one. The results showed that the group in the cooler room made the correct decision twice as often, demonstrating that overly-warm temperatures might not be fantastic for our more complex decision-making skills. Another study, for example, showed that above 27^oC we’re not so good at mathematics – although again that might not be such an issue in our own national climate!

Lower temperatures also help keep us focused during more monotonous tasks, so if your employees are more likely to be working alone or handling complex individual decisions, using your air conditioning to maintain a slightly cooler office environment might not be a bad idea.

Which Should You Use For Your Office?

As we’ve said above, that mostly depends on your industry, and what your employees will be spending their time doing.

Hotter temperatures are better for creativity and teamwork (within a certain range), while colder temperatures are better for individual tasks and complex, logical decision-making. Maybe your business falls into one of these two categories, or maybe it doesn’t – in which case, you’ll have to use the time-honoured method of experimenting with the perfect office temperature.

Whatever the case, it’s important that you have the means to control your office temperature, in order to manage the comfort and efficiency of your employees. With summer quickly coming up, the best way to do that is through air conditioning. At Askews, our trained engineers hold themselves to the highest standard when it comes to the service and maintenance of these systems, and you can trust us to get the job done.

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