Workplaces that are fortunate enough to have air conditioning face a dilemna. That dilemna is that no matter what temperature the air conditioning is set at, there will be people who feel it is too cold or too hot. Some people will bring fans in and claim they are sweating buckets every day when the temperature is set at 80 degrees, and others will claim they can’t type because their fingers are frozen when the temperature is set at 70 degrees. Basically, employers can’t make everyone happy when it comes to the temperature of the workplace.

However, many workplaces err on the side of expensive when it comes to air conditioning or heating. I’m currently sitting in an office with a temperature near 70 degrees. It doesn’t bother most people, including myself, but a small number of people insist that they are freezing. If the temperature is brought up higher, most people don’t care, but a small number of people insist that they are burning up.

No matter what temperature the air conditioning is set at, there will be a small number of people who complain. The effects of raising or lowering it, within a reasonable range, is a wash, because a small number of people will always dislike the temperature. However, if workplaces would err on the side of cheap, in this case using less air conditioning, approximately the same number of people would be angry, but the workplace could save money.

The same goes for heating costs. I used to work at an indoor pool. There was a constant battle between members of the swim team and the older water aerobics ladies over the temperature of the pool. The swim team wanted the water cooler for their workouts and races, and the water aerobics ladies wanted the water warmer for comfort. The vast majority of patrons, however, did not care. So what did we do? The people in charge decided to keep the temperature on the warmer end of the reasonable range, thus making the same number of people annoyed, yet spending a lot more money heating the water.

Many workplaces err on the side of expensive when it comes to workplace temperatures, and that just doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m just curious why they do it, when they could have the same net effect on patrons’ happiness or anger and spend less money, by erring on the side of cheap.

An interesting article from the Washington Post yesterday discussed the psychological side of this temperature dilemna:

Office managers are under siege. They know that if they set the temperature to 74, they hear from the woman in human resources who says it is too cold. If they turn it up to 76, they hear from the man in marketing who wants to know why it is sweltering hot…

The psychologist thinks our perceptions of comfort and discomfort are at least partly determined by social cues. That annual staple of summer and winter media reports — tales of unbearably hot summers and unbearably cold winters — probably contributes to people’s perceptions that it is uncomfortably hot or cold.

Let me know what you think!

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