Summer is here, and so are the office thermostat wars.
Every year, as temperatures heat up outside, plenty of offices will crank up the air conditioning. For many office workers, it can ignite a perennial debate about what is the ideal office temperature.
For the record: It’s not in your head if you find it hard to concentrate in a frigid office. It can be by design. Researchers have found that a lot of office buildings set temperatures based on a 1960s formula that uses the metabolic rates of men in its calculation.
And that office thermostat can make a difference in your ability to do work, depending on who you are.
One 2019 study in the journal PLOS One surveyed 543 students in Germany and found that women performed better on tests in warmer offices while men performed better in cooler offices.
“Our results potentially raise the stakes for the battle of the thermostat, suggesting that it is not just about comfort, but also about cognitive performance and productivity,” the study authors concluded.
Whatever your personal preference, know that as long as there are freezing offices, there will be people making jokes about having to don blankets and sweaters indoors during summer.
Here are some of the funniest takes from Twitter: