Freezing Cold Summer Offices Hurt Businesses

Sweaters and jackets are supposed to be for the cooler months of the year. But in the office, it is a sign that someone needs to take his hand off the thermostat. As cities in North America swelter in the usual muggy heat of July, secretaries, accountants and lawyers are donning everything but thermal underwear to fight off the effects of air conditioning in the workplace. A recently publicized study from Cornell says that not only are offices too cold to be comfortable, but also chilly workstations are inefficient ones.

Human beings are endotherms, meaning they can regulate their body temperature. Given that the species evolved on the savannahs of Africa, staying cool was a much bigger challenge for early humans than staying warm. Thus, there are lots of sweat glands, and there isn’t much fur on the typical homo sapiens. People without air conditioning perspire in the summer (or rather ladies glow, gentlemen perspire, and horses sweat); people without heat die in winter.

The most obvious economic effect of excessive air cooling is the huge electric bills for July and August. While the equipment has become more energy efficient, the fact remains that demand rises in the summer because people are cooling their homes and offices. But Alan Hedge, professor of design and environmental analysis and director of Cornell's Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory, has proved that there’s more to it than that.

Professor Hedge did a month-long study of typists at Insurance Office of America's headquarters in Orlando, Florida. Over the course of the study, he compared typing accuracy and overall typing output at 68ºF and at 77ºF. The differences were beyond astounding. Professor Hedge said, “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.”

Big deal? Since many office jobs require typing, not just in the word processing department, it is. According to the good professor, “The results of our study also suggest raising the temperature to a more comfortable thermal zone saves employers about $2 per worker, per hour.” Lower electricity bills and greater worker productivity? Then, why is it so cold in here?



© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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