[acb-hsp] Adjust Your Thermostat

[Baracco, Andrew W]

What about extreme heat?  My building at work was built in the 1930s as
a psych inpatient facility. No AC and the windows, providing that you
can open them, only open about two inches.  And, for some unexplainable
reason, the steam heat is on, and has been all summer.  The temp is in
the low 90s inside.  I wonder what that does to productivity, trust, and
all that.
Andy


-----Original Message-----
From: acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf
Of peter altschul
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 9:52 AM
To: Acbhsp
Subject: [acb-hsp] Adjust Your Thermostat

Want More Productive Workers? Adjust Your Thermostat
  By Ron Friedman September 17, 2012
  If your office is a meat locker in the summer and a sauna in the
winter, your employees' productivity and collaboration suffers--probably
more than you think.
  Some years back, the Campbell Soup Company stumbled upon a marketing
insight worthy of Don Draper.  If you want to predict when people will
buy soup, the reasoning goes, you have to look beyond the product.  It's
not about the depth of the soup's flavor, the color of its packaging or
even its price.  In fact, it's hardly about Campbell's at all.  It's
about the weather.
  Consumers buy more soup when conditions are cold, damp or windy.  The
question facing Campbell's was this: How do you leverage this
information into sales?
  So they did something brilliant.  They linked the frequency of their
radio buys to the weather of each station.  To determine when ads would
be purchased, they developed an algorithm called the "Misery Index,"
which uses meteorological data to track weather patterns.  To this day,
if you're hearing an ad for soup on the radio, there's a good chance
youbre either carrying an umbrella or wearing a coat.
  The rationale behind Campbell's Misery Index is simultaneously clever
and obvious, a hallmark of game changing ideas.  But it also raises an
interesting question.  If a drop in temperature changes what we buy,
what does it do to the way we think?
  ininTyping With Gloves * If you sit near a vent, share legroom with a
space heater, or use your desk to store outerwear, the question warrants
serious consideration.  One of the painful ironies of office life is
that we can never quite get the temperature right.  We spend our summers
shivering in meat lockers and our winters sweating in saunas.
  Central air hasn't made us comfortable, so much as made us
uncomfortable in a different way.
  The experience isn't simply unpleasant.  It comes with a real
financial cost.
  To find out just how much, Cornell University researchers conducted a
study that involved tinkering with the thermostat of an insurance
office.  When temperatures were low (68 degrees, to be precise),
employees committed 44% more errors and were less than half as
productive as when temperatures were warm (a cozy 77 degrees).
  Cold employees weren't just uncomfortable, they were distracted.  The
drop in performance was costing employers 10% more per hour, per
employee.  Which makes sense.  When our body's temperature drops, we
expend energy keeping ourselves warm, making less energy available for
concentration, inspiration and insight.
  ininFeeling Cold? You Might Just Be Lonely * And it's not just
performance that dips.  It's our impression of the people around us.  In
a fascinating study reported in the prestigious journal Science,
psychologists uncovered a link between physical and interpersonal
warmth.  When people feel cold physically, they're also more likely to
perceive others as less generous and caring.
  In a word, they view them as cold.
  When we're warm, on the other hand, we let our guard down and view
ourselves as more similar to those around us.  A forthcoming paper from
researchers at UCLA even shows that brief exposure to warmer
temperatures lead people to report higher job satisfaction.
  Why the link between physical and mental warmth?
  Psychologists argue it has to do with the way we're built.  The same
area of the brain that lights up when we sense temperature--the insular
cortex--is also active when we feel trust and empathy towards another
person.  When we experience warmth, we experience trust.  And vice
versa.
  Neurologically, it seems we have our wires crossed.  Except it's not a
coincidence.
  There's a reason we associate warmth with trust, and it's because
doing so promotes our survival, especially early on.  As infants,
keeping close to our caretaker is vital to staying alive, which is one
reason we're programmed to seek out warmth.  
Throughout our lives, we associate warmth (a hug) with affection (this
person loves me).  It's a connection that grows stronger with every
intimate embrace.
  ininWhy Lonely People Take More Showers * Because our minds
unconsciously link warmth with affection, we're more sensitive to cold
temperatures than we think.
  Research shows that when we experience cold temperatures, we're
especially likely to feel isolated.  In fact, countering the experience
of isolation is one reason people spend more time in the shower when
they're feeling down.
  The unconscious desire for physical warmth is thought to be the reason
lonely people bathe longer, more frequently, and using higher
temperatures.
  ininThe Warmth-Productivity Link * We know that cold temperatures
worsen productivity.  What new research is showing is that it can also
corrode the quality of our relationships.
  And this, ultimately, is why office temperature matters.
  Great workplaces aren't simply the product of good organizational
policies.  They emerge when employees connect with one another and form
meaningful relationships that engender trust.  What's often overlooked
is that connections don't operate in a vacuum.
  It seems obvious that the temperature of a restaurant or theatre can
alter our experience.  So why do we continue to neglect it in the
workplace?
  Copyright B) 2012 Mansueto Ventures LLC.  All rights reserved.
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