It’s often a point of contention in workplaces – the temperature of the work environment. In jobs which involve physical activity, everyone is likely to feel the heat the same way, but in a less active workplace such as an office, different employees can feel the temperature very differently.
Research from 2015 shows that most air conditioning units are set according to the resting metabolic rate of a 40 year old man – hardly representative of the workforce in general! It means that women often become cold in the office, as their metabolic rates can run up to 30% slower than a man’s, and they may cool down and feel the cold more easily.
It’s not just a gender issue, however – older people also have a slower metabolism than younger people in general, although women may find their body temperature is affected by hormonal changes like the menopause.
There’s no easy solution to a problem like this, as all of your employees will have a slightly different ideal temperature. The best way to ensure that everyone is comfortable and able to work to the best of their ability is to carry out consultation exercises and put in place measures.
This may include relaxing the dress code to allow people to dress more appropriately, offering fans and space heaters to change the temperature in specific parts of the office and agreeing on a median temperature which suits the greatest number of people possible – and changing the temperature to which your air-con unit is set.
As well as helping to keep employees comfortable and productive, ensuring that your office is correctly heated and cooled by air conditioning units could help you to cut emissions and overheads. The less energy an air conditioning unit uses – the more you may be able to save.
If you’re thinking of installing an air conditioning unit in your office, get in touch with I-HT to find out more about the installation and maintenance services which we offer for heat pump and air conditioning units, as well as HD CTTV setups.
