Member Article

Less than a quarter of office workers in Britain happy with office temperatures

In a poll conducted by One Poll, results suggest that at least 1% of man hours are wasted due to heat or the cold within an office environment, with more than a third suggesting that they take atleast 10 minutes out of work each day due to office temperature. It is also suggested that this in turn wastes around £13 billion in Britain due to time not being spent working (based on an average wage of £26,500, 29.84m UK employees and a 228 day working year).

The survey was created on behalf of air conditioning specialists Andrews Sykes and surveyed 2000 people within the 18-60 age range, to see how office temperatures can affect people within the workplace, with most of the results showing discontent amongst Britain’s office workers.

Only 24% of people said they were content with the temperature of their office throughout the year, with 29% estimating they spend between 10-30 minutes a day not working due to uncomfortable temperatures in their office, and a relatively large 6% of people said they spend in excess of 30 minutes a day not working due to this problem too.

Helen Pedder, head of HR for ClearSky HR, said: “Whether temperatures soar or plummet, unbearable office conditions can have a serious impact on employee health and well-being. Unfortunately the law is left open to misinterpretation by simply stating that employers must provide a ‘reasonable’ workplace temperature.

“Until health and safety guidance provides clear and coherent requirements, there are various steps that an employer can take to prevent a dip in productivity and performance. Relaxing dress code requirements where appropriate and providing heating and/or cooling devices are effective methods that help to regulate thermal comfort.”

Other interesting results also showed interesting age, gender and regional divides. For example, results found that the oldest age group were the least likely to want to complain about office temperature, with the youngest age group wanting to complain the most about office temperatures. However, when it actually came to complaining to a senior member of staff, the oldest age group were over 6 times more likely to complain.

As for gender divides, men were found to be generally more content with their office climate, however women were on average found to be ‘too cold’ in both the summer and winter. Women were also more likely to put on extra clothing, with 69% saying they had done, which in turn could mean more money out of their own pockets.

People working in East Anglia were found to be the region where employees were most likely to complain about the temperature, with 46% of them complaining to colleagues and 32% having complained to management. However a huge 28% of people in London have no control of any climate or temperature controls in their office.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Joe Hale .