Summary In a mix-gendered environment the temperature inside should be set up to 24C
(Web Desk) – Offices employ workers to get maximum productivity. Hence the workplace environment should be catering to both sexes comfort zone.
Yet the general trend in offices is to set the thermostat to the male workers liking which according to a study has adverse effect on female workers’ productivity.
A study conducted by University of Southern California (USC), published in scientific journal Plos’s 22nd May edition, on 543 students at a laboratory in Berlin found that women’s function far better at cognitive tasks when room temperature is set slightly higher.
Participants were engaged in 3 different tests, a math’s test, a verbal test and a cognitive reflection test. The temperature was set from 16C to 32C during each task.
The result indicates a dramatic change for females who performed better than their male counterparts in math’s and the verbal test, while the increase or decrease in temperatures had no effect in the cognitive reflection tests.
Talking to The Independent Professor Tom Chang the co-author of the study and the associate professor of finance and business economics at the USC Marshall School of Business explained the phenomena, according to him
‘It s been documented that women like warmer indoor temperatures than men – but the idea until now has been that it s a matter of personal preference. What we found is it s not just whether you feel comfortable or not, but that your performance on things that matter – in math and verbal dimensions, and how hard you try – is affected by temperature."
Professor Chang added, ‘It s not like we re getting to freezing or boiling hot, even if you go from 60 to 75 degrees (15C to 23C), which is a relatively normal temperature range, you still see a meaningful variation in performance.’
The study further indicates that for enhanced productivity in a mix-gendered environment the temperature inside should be set up to 24C.
Professor further believes, ‘businesses should take environmental factors like temperature more seriously, even if you care only about profit or worker productivity.’
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