Over the decades, there have been numerous studies dedicated to understanding the many factors that affect employees’ performance at work. Adding to the list is this new study published by the academic journal PLOS One.
The study looked into the effects of varying temperatures on cognitive performance among men and women.
Lead author of the study, Tom Chang explains that people (employers) invest a lot of money to ensure their workers are comfortable and highly productive. However, “this study is saying even if you care only about money, or the performance of your workers, you may want to crank up the temperature in your office buildings,” he added.
The result of the study suggests that women are likely to be more productive when the temperature of their environment is warmer.
The study administered a lab experiment that involved 543 people tested on a set of math, verbal, and cognitive reflection problems in rooms with temperatures varying from 16.19 degrees Celsius (roughly 61 degrees Fahrenheit) to 32.57 degrees Celsius (roughly 91 degrees Fahrenheit).
For math and verbal tests, the results were highly influenced by the control of temperature. Results for cognitive tests, however, were not a direct indication of the temperature they were answered in.
Women performed better by 1.76% on these two tests when the temperatures were warmer, and men scored better in colder conditions.
The outcome of this study perfectly justifies why women prefer to be in warmer places.
Even when they are put in places with lower temperatures, we see them wearing extra layers of clothes or having a warm cup of coffee to keep the productivity going.
All this while, it was deemed as a matter of personal preference. Chang detests this notion with his explanation below:
“What we found is it’s not just whether you feel comfortable or not, but that your performance on things that matter – in math and verbal dimensions, and how hard you try – is affected by temperature.”
Credit: CNN / SAYS
