Chilly offices cool performance of women workers, study shows

CHILLY air conditioning in offices is damaging women’s performance at work, a study has found.

Most climate control systems in modern offices are based on the resting metabolic rate of a 40-year-old man, which runs up to 30 per cent faster than a woman’s.

Current employment rules set by the Health and Safety Executive allow for temperatures as low as 61F (16C) even though The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers recommends 68F (20C).

Now, research by the University of Southern California (USC) shows that women performed considerably worse than men when the temperature falls to 61F, and did not catch up in verbal tasks until conditions hit around 71F (22C). In tests, they averaged 19 points at the lowest temperature and 23 at the highest.

In maths skills, women only become comparable with men when temperatures reach 89F (32C). The opposite was true for men, whose performance worsened as the temperature rose.

“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,” said USC’S Dr Tom Chang. “This study is saying even if you care only about money, you may want to crank up the temperature in your office buildings.”

Previous research by Maastricht University Medical Centre found that the optimum office temperature for women was 75F (24.5C). Men, in contrast, were happiest at 71F (21.5C).

Current air conditioning standards are derived from research conducted in the 1960s which was based on the resting metabolic rate of one 11-stone, 40-year-old man. The new research was carried out 543 students in Berlin who were asked to complete tests in different office conditions.

“One of the most surprising things we learned is this isn’t about the extremes of temperature,” added Dr Chang. “It’s not like we’re getting to freezing or boiling hot.”

The report authors noted that the increase in female performance at warmer temperatures seemed driven by an increased number of submitted answers, suggesting that when women feel too cold, they do not try as hard.

The research was published in the journal Plos One.