I recently ran into an article in the Chicago Sun-Times describing the peak efficient working conditions of an office worker. In the article they say the peak perfect temperature is 71 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. As I sit here shivering while grasping my hot cup of chai tea, I think, “That would  be perfect right about now.”

The same effect happens in the opposite direction of the spectrum; if the temperature reaches 87 degrees office productivity decreases as much as 10%. Sandra goes on to state that most office buildings often have poorly controlled temperatures. My office experience has taught me to prepare for any temperature whether it be hot or cold because you never know what the temperature might be during the course of one day.

Loss of productivity is bad no matter what the temperature is, but most importantly, it will result in the loss of money annually. To accurately keep your office in peak working conditions its good to get a temperature monitoring device that is more than just a thermometer connected to an air conditioning system.

With a temperature and humidity sensor connected to a sensor probe you can not only trigger your air conditioning unit but you can trend the data over a period of time. This feature is very useful because you need to be able to historically look back while actively monitoring your offices. In the long run you will save your company money and create happier employees.

Seems like an awful waste of energy doesn’t it? What is the ideal office temperature?

We decided to move one of the BitSight temperature and humidity sensors to our work area:

We used Denika Performance Trender to monitor the SNMP OIDs on the device.  Take a look at these temperature fluctuations. Crazy!

Cornell University did a study on this topic and found that warm offices lead to fewer typing errors and higher productivity. I’ll have to show this article to the boss. 

- Mike