Linking Environmental Linking Environmental Conditions to Productivity

Applicable portions of the report posted with the kind permission of:
Professor Alan Hedge, PhD, CPE, Cornell University

Research Conclusions

• Results show clear associations between office work performance and indoor environment conditions
• Performance decreases when too cold (or too hot)
• Results suggest that performance improves as conditions approach a predicted thermal comfort zone
• Raising temperature from 20°C to 25°C:
  • Reduces errors by 44%
  • Increases keying output by 150%
  • Saves ~$2.00 per worker in lost productivity
  • With optimization of other environmental conditions the cost savings will be even greater!

Temperature and Performance

Temperature and Cost

Assumptions:

• Employee earns $16 per hour
• Keying time = 900-mouse time seconds
• Total keys = correct + error keys
• Cost/key = keying time/total keys
• Error costs = error keys X costs per key
• Hourly costs = 4 x error costs

Professor Alan Hedge, PhD, CPE
Cornell University
Dept. Design & Environmental Analysis
NYS College of Human Ecology
Ithaca, NY 14853 Ithaca, NY 14853-4401 4401

The full report may be viewed at Cornell here: