The study was conducted in Orlando, Florida, at the headquarters of Insurance Office of America. Nine office workstations were outfitted with sensors that sampled the air temperature every 15 minutes. In addition to recording the temperature in the work space, they also monitored the amount of time the workers used the keyboard, and the amount of time spent correcting errors.

The results were quite clear. At 66? F (18.8? C) workers typed 54% of the time and with a 25% error rate. When the temperature was raised to 77? F (25? C), the workers were typing 100% of the time and with only a 10% error rate. From this data, it is clear that office temperature can have a drastic effect of worker output.

Of course, for workers in a cold climate, it may cost more to warm the facilities to these temperatures. The incremental increase in heating costs may be far outweighed by the savings associated with increased worker productivity. Professor Hedge concluded that, on average, raising the temperature to the ideal zone saves employers $2 US Dollars (USD) per hour per employee. If these savings are multiplied across an entire corporation, the financial impact can be substantial.

In addition to the results on office temperature, studies have shown that other environmental conditions can have an impact on worker productivity. Background noise and air pollution can negatively affect performance, as can the vibration of equipment. Lights that are too dim or too bright, or which cause a glare, also appear to lead to a decrease in productivity. People who feel they lack privacy at work or who feel they have little control also tend to produce less.

More studies need to be conducted to properly isolate the ideal working temperature. In addition, the interaction between office temperature and other factors like air pollution and noise need to be investigated further. A warm office, for example, might indicate poor ventilation, which could increase the number of pollutants in the air.