A place where you spend more than half of your day sitting in one place. The place where your productivity really matters and is the prime source of income, you cannot take any risks. Yes, evidently we are talking about your workplace. The comfortable and easy-breezy environment is definitely a must for productivity at your workplace. One should be comfortable in his or her workplace to maximize their productivity. Around half of the people around us do some type of desk job, thus it is very important for the workplace to have a happy and comfortable environment.
Also, fun fact, many women prefer to work from home. To have more information on this check out this article. An uncomfortable environment to work in can be really annoying and can significantly affect your productivity. Such an environment can be really distressing and can equally affect your mental health as well. Your workplace environment affects your whole mood, tensions at your workplace certainly influence you personally. Troubles at your workplace can have a significant effect on your personal life and relationship. Thus, one has to have a pleasant and peaceful work environment.
Many factors describe your comfort at your workplace but do you know that temperature affects productivity of women at the workplace? The temperature is one of the essential factors for a comfortable and soothing work environment. temperature affects productivity and the idle temperature at the workplace optimizes the productivity of employers. Obviously, employers who are constantly sweating or shivering tend to be less productive than others.
However, according to the research, there are no idle temperatures but surveys have been conducted to stick to some range.
How Temperature Affects Productivity in the Workplace?
There is no such thing as idle temperature for a workplace. Every working space has its own type of perfect temperature. There cannot be one idle temperature for workplaces as idle temperature depends upon many factors how temperature affects productivity at the workplace. These factors are:
- Location: Just like we have different types of temperature control in our houses based on our locations the same concept applies in the case of workplaces. If we live on the land we have Air Conditioners and in the mountains, the fan does that work. Similarly at the workplace, the outside temperature decides the indoor temperatures. Humidity level, overall average temperature, rainfall all these are deciding factors for the idle temperature of the workplace.
- Age-set of the employees: Though different bodies react differently at different temperatures however, age also plays the role in that. As we grow older our immune system gets weak thus our body cannot withstand extreme temperatures.
Thus if you have more percentage of employers having their age more than the average age of 35 years then the normal temperature is preferred. If you have an equally distributed age set of employees you can have different sections for them in your office. Usually, older people prefer warmer temperatures. - Gender division of your employees: Yes, bodies of men, women, and other genders react differently to outside temperatures. If you have more females in your workplace than warmer temperatures are preferred, however for males colder temperatures are suitable. Thus, either you can have different sections for them or set your office temperature at an accurate average.
- Dress-code: Most offices have some of the other dress codes. However, there are always some exceptions and there are offices that do not have any dress code and just some basic guidelines. Major offices follow basic formal dress-code for all the genders.
This formal dress code includes a shirt, pants/skirt, blazer/coat, and shoes. If your dress code is uncomfortable people tend to feel hot. Thus the dress code of a place should be according to the temperature or vice-versa.
Why cold offices have a Chilling Impact on Women?
As mentioned earlier, the temperature has a different effect on genders. According to researchers, women tend to feel colder in offices that are fully air-conditioned than men.The main reason behind this is that our bodies’ structures are different and it functions differently.
According to one of the researches conducted at the University of South California, a researcher quoted that “As the temp went up, women did better on math and verbal tasks, and men did worse.” There are many such kinds of research that study female productivity in cold temperatures. Such researches take place from time to time to prove how temperatures affect the sexes differently.
This difference in sexes continues in the workplace regarding how men and women are productive differently at different temperatures. However, these differences are completely physiological.
- One of the main reasons why women feel cold in offices is due to body mass. Men have comparatively higher body mass than women due to which they tend to feel hot much faster than women.
- Also, because of the fact that blood in women’s bodies flows differently. Women’s bodies have a tendency to gather up the blood at central and core organs, thus organs such as feet and hands which are at extremes tend to feel colder.
- Metabolic system: metabolism of men and women work differently. The metabolism rate of women is lower than men due to which they tend to feel cold earlier and easier.
The bottom line is one should understand we are different and cannot fit in one box.
How to Make the Workplace more Comfortable in Terms of Temperatures?
There is no doubt about the fact that more comfortable and peaceful the environment of the workplace, more is the productivity of the employees. Thus, if someone really wants to increase productivity which will definitely lead to an increase in the profit of their organization then it should be kept in mind the needs of the employees. The good boss always takes care of their workforce.
Some of the simple ways are:
- According to the researchers, water temperatures are preferred for increased productivity, however too hot is also not good. As you know temperature affects productivity, do maintain the temperature accordingly.
- Keep a comfortable dressing code.
- At least have a water cooler
- Talk to your employees about their discomforts.
In short, make your employees comfortable and satisfied and monitor how temperature affects productivity in the office.
Also read: Tips To Enhance Positive Vibes At Your Workplace