Everything affects the workplace. The work environment is a volatile melting pot of emotions, motives, stress and sometimes even works, too. Employee bickering needs to end. But, before that, we need to know what causes temperatures to rise like they do. Surprise, surprise, it’s the heat.
In an article published by OpenWorkSpaceDesign.co.uk at the tail end of 2015, it was revealed that an enormous 80% of us complain about the temperature in the office. This statistic isn’t exclusive to the summer months either, it’s all year round. This costs each individual worker around half an hour a day where they don’t work due to the temperature. Not good.
Whether it’s too hot or too cold, if it is noticeably uncomfortable for staff then illness will spread faster and cause absentees and further decreases in production. Viruses can spread in the heat or in colder temperatures. Illness and temperature have a strong correlation on both extremes of the thermometer.
Talking of which a good way to solve this problem would be to invest in an office thermometer. This way no one will complain that it’s too hot or too cold without having a direct reference to what the exact temperature is. This should help employees agree on a temperature that suits all of them.
Another obvious solution, specific to the summer months would be air conditioning if you can afford it. This is a great way to cool off in the summer without having to move a muscle.
More affordable are fans. They can be a desk fan that rotates or is programmed to swing its blades round equally to fan the whole office or handheld ones which of course should only be used sparingly as spending the whole afternoon fanning yourself doesn’t sound like the best way to get any work done. Not that they aren’t brilliantly useful.
Humidity also affects how people perceive temperature. This is because the human body cannot perspire properly amid overly humid conditions. Clearly, the solution here would be to invest in a humidifier.
Of paramount importance though is to remain hydrated. Glasses of water, especially in hotter months will keep you refreshed. Consider a light lunch centred on fruit and veg. you want to keep your electrolyte count high.
To tie it all together, a good way to generate air circulation is simply to open all the windows you have, although in many office spaces, for safety reasons this isn’t always possible. If you’re not lucky enough to have a company gym featuring a pool…(who really is?) – Stick to the aforementioned advice and stay hydrated! The UK is on the edge of a heatwave chaps! Smoldering is fine as per Dr Alex (Love Island) but melting won’t do you any favours. Stay cool.
