Rain Or Shine: How The Weather Affects Your Workplace

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Ah, the many arguments the office thermostat has seen! 80% of office workers complain about their workplace’s temperature, wasting up to ten minutes a day merely acclimatising to it. In the summer it’s too hot – leading 31% to buy their own fan – while in the winter it’s too cold, meaning 56% of workers don extra clothing.

Productivity also varies with temperature. Interestingly, research from the University of Cornell suggests that raising office temperature from 20 to a whopping 25C reduces errors by 4% and increases output by 150%. By contrast, Helsinki University recommends 22 degrees as the optimum.

What’s certain is that Facebook’s cooler temperature of 15C – five degrees below the UK’s Chartered Institude Of Building Services Engineers recommendation – hasn’t earned Mark Zuckerberg many fans among his workforce.

Want to optimise your productivity? Better hit that thermostat.





Winter wonderland?

It’s no secret that working in winter is a far more miserable proposition than summer. Quite apart from snow days, icy conditions and travel disruptions, a study by Peldon Rose found that over a third of respondents claimed to namibia phone number resource be affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. So you’re much more likely suffer with depression and mental illness in winter than in summer.

We also get far less exposure to natural daylight in the dark months. This is a serious problem; a 2013 study of day-shift workers found that those who get enough daylight at work sleep an average of 46 minutes more per night. Workers with low exposure – i.e. no windows in the office – report lower scores on vitality as well as quality of life.

Still, it may not be all doom and gloom. Research from 2014 suggests that cloudy conditions “increase individual productivity by eliminating potential cognitive distractions resulting from good weather.” So basically, we’re less likely to get distracted wishing we were elsewhere when it’s miserable outside. Makes sense.