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Have you got a cool office? And by that we don’t mean treadmill desks, egg-shaped cubicles and a resident shelter dog to help your staff through their day – although that would be nice. No, we’re talking about the direct link between staff productivity, focus and concentration versus office temperature.
We spend a disproportionate amount of our time at work behind our desks and screens. We want to be comfortable. But unless we have that giant corner office overlooking the bay or we enjoy working in a new-age company, it’s unlikely that we will be blessed with a personalised climate control system in our 1m² of floor space.
Yet, staff productivity and overall morale are closely linked to comfort levels in the office. You can cut costs and buy a desk fan, but you’ll find that this is something of a false economy once you’ve read to the end of this article.
How Aircon Improves Staff Productivity
The Oppressive Office
When summer rolls around it’s hard not to be excited by the warm glow of the sun and the friendly blue skies. Except, after a few weeks of torrid heat when you feel like you are melting into your chair and the desk fan is doing nothing but moving the super-heated air around the stifling room, it’s not quite so much fun. How much time do your staff spend standing in front of an open refrigerator, fanning themselves with files, or just trying to focus with beads of sweat running down their faces? It’s a fact that a muggy, oppressively hot office does nothing for the productivity of your staff: they don’t want to be there, they can’t concentrate, and their mood is probably in the toilet.
A pleasantly airconditioned office is a haven for over-heated staff, a place where they can focus their efforts and be productive.
The Wintry Workplace
During the cooler winter seasons, does your office turn into an environment better suited to a chinstrap penguin? Studies have shown time and again that an ambient temperature of 23-25°C is ideal for office workers. Once temperatures drop to 20°C or below, inaccuracies increase from 10% to 25%, and active keyboard time plummets from close to 100% to a tragic 54%.
These numbers may seem only mildly interesting, but have you considered the real impact of these percentage drops? Imagine you have 5 typists whose work is impacted by frigid temperatures. After a single day of reduced efficiency, you may as well have sent two (and a half) of them home.
Comfort levels in our work environment aren’t just about how happy our staff are. They also relate to their overall health and wellness. Offices that are too warm bring with them stress, migraines, dehydration and heat exhaustion. A freezing office brings a different set of issues in the form of dry skin, sore eyes, tense muscles and the accompanying sniffles. We must agree that a sick employee is not a productive one.
The Effect of Aircon on our Tech
Our modern office has more tech now than ever before. Servers, pcs and laptops, copiers, and cleaning equipment all add their hot breath to the mix. In addition to maintaining a comfortable temperature level, an air-conditioner maximises the efficiency of your equipment. Overheating equipment results in failure – both long and short term – which interrupts our workflow and decreases staff productivity.
The bottom line is that we expect more from our staff than ever before. People have taken to wearing several different hats to remain significant in the workplace, and we have no “dead time” anymore – it’s like we all have a permanent ‘on’ switch. Caring for your staff means keeping them happy, and while it may seem trite to encourage you to invest in a good, reliable air-conditioner, it is a fact that it represents a major factor in the happiness of your team and overall staff productivity.
Chat with us today and let us make your office that much cooler.
