Employee satisfaction, lighting, equipment—these are only some of the factors that affect employees’ performance in the workplace. These things may seem inconsequential or not as important as other aspects, such as the location of the workplace and the salary of the staff, but these little things are factors that can – and do – impact employee productivity.
2. Employee satisfaction, lighting, equipment—these are only some of the factors that affect
employees’ performance in the workplace. These things may seem inconsequential or not as
important as other aspects, such as the location of the workplace and the salary of the staff, but
these little things are factors that can – and do – impact employee productivity.
Another factor that impacts the productivity of an employee is the temperature in the workplace.
Various studies have shown that when an employee is trying hard to keep warm or looking for ways
to feel a cool breeze, their productivity suffers.
Workplace Indoor Temperature
Cold temperatures generally deflate a person’s mood. Apart from the mood, there is also often a
downturn in productivity as a result of the employee being preoccupied with staying warm instead of
working.
On the other hand, employees who feel excessively hot don’t work well either. The heat makes
people, in general, feel sluggish. For workers, this means slower work and fewer accomplishments.
3. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) - Office of Scientific and Technical Information
(OSTI)’s literature analysis, there is a ―general decrement in work performance when temperatures
exceeded those associated with thermal neutrality.‖
A 2006 Helsinki University of Technology study found that the optimal range of temperature for the
greatest employee output is between 69.8 ° to 71.6 °Fahrenheit. The researchers found that at a
temperature reaching 86 °F, employee performance is only at 91.1 percent of the maximum.
Furthermore, a 2004 Cornell University study links comfortably warm offices to fewer typing mistakes
and higher productivity. The researchers found that employees working in colder rooms make more
errors, resulting in an increase in their hourly wage of about 10 percent.
"At 77 degrees Fahrenheit, the workers were keyboarding 100 percent of the time with a 10 percent
error rate, but at 68 degrees, their keying rate went down to 54 percent of the time with a 25 percent
error rate," said Alan Hedge, lead author of the study and director of Cornell University’s Human
Factors and Ergonomics Research Group.
These studies show how changes in temperature affect employees’ performance and productivity.
Companies and teams looking to improve their employees’ outputs need to look into the indoor office
temperature if they notice a lag in productivity.