Aircons/Heaters in the office

Should aircons/heaters be allowed in the office in the Winter?

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 73.3%

  • No

    Votes: 4 26.7%
  • Total voters
    15
DenSweeP

DenSweeP

New member
Should Heaters/Aircons be allowed in the Office in the winter? Be it open plan or closed office.

This is a simple yes and no. You can justify your answer in the thread if you want to.
 
I say an emphatic no. If you're cold, dress warmer. I couldn't care about your fashion needs, if you're cold, stop wearing skirts, or short sleeve shirts or no jesey and dress for the winter! I'm personally sick of this fight every year.

"We're cold". Blah blah blah. Heaters and heated aircons are a breeding ground for germs and bacteria and once switched on, they distribute these perfectly. And also, when one idiot comes to work sick, the aircons merely serve to help spread his/her toxic exhalations making more people sick.

On that note, employers should actually force a sick employee to go home. The problem though is employees get made to feel so guilty for taking sick leave, they rather go work.
 
hells yes!
I work in a closed office with a aircon/heater. There are a few offices built in a row, and we are all located on a upstairs messini.
It gets freeeeeezing in winter, and unbearable sauna temps in summer so without it, would not be able to function. In winter I would be a ice block. Had a scare this morning that mine was broken - was blowing out cold air - almost died.

Luckily it is just me in this office so I have full control, the others all share and I know they fight over the room temp quite a bit. Either to hot, or to cold etc.
 
No, people don't know how to use them. They put them on full blast and then open all the doors and windows because they are too hot.

My office does not switch the heaters on.
 
DenSweeP said:
I say an emphatic no. If you're cold, dress warmer. I couldn't care about your fashion needs, if you're cold, stop wearing skirts, or short sleeve shirts or no jesey and dress for the winter! I'm personally sick of this fight every year.

"We're cold". Blah blah blah. Heaters and heated aircons are a breeding ground for germs and bacteria and once switched on, they distribute these perfectly. And also, when one idiot comes to work sick, the aircons merely serve to help spread his/her toxic exhalations making more people sick.

On that note, employers should actually force a sick employee to go home. The problem though is employees get made to feel so guilty for taking sick leave, they rather go work
Click to expand...

Damn right. I hate it when other managers give their staff grief when they look and feel like shit.
As for heaters, no freakin way. Nothing helps one get sick like the transition from a warm (stuffy) office into the freezing cold outdoors.
And most people know only two settings, off and 'fcking hot'
 
Yes....assuming someone sensible is in control of it (ambitious requirement I know). Heating should imo be used just enough to take the edge off it. i.e. you should still be sitting there in warm clothing.
 
My justification is purely maintianing the same climate all year round, this is what all major gyms do, sometimes we make it abit colder in summer but usually the climate is controlled, ie its the same in winter and summer
 
DenSweeP said:
Should Heaters/Aircons be allowed in the Office in the winter? Be it open plan or closed office.

This is a simple yes and no. You can justify your answer in the thread if you want to.
Click to expand...

I say 'yes' only because there should be an ambient temperature of 21C. If that's too cold for you, don something warmer. Personally, 21C is juuuuuust right.
 
I work in an office and sometimes get frozen by the air conditioning, so I got a small heater which is under my desk which i use on cold days.
 
I think it depends but mostly it would be a no in the winter... you can go to the office dressed warm. You can't, however go the office naked when you're hot.
 
Yes.

There are some fighting now and then here at our office but on days like today the warmth makes a big difference. We are dressed warm but when you type on the keyboard you want your fingers to work properly.

As long as it's used reasonably though.
 
Temperature in the office environment needs to be regulated, if only to improve productivity. There are quite a few academic papers out there studying the effect of ambient temperature, within an office, on productivity. General conclusion is that we're most productive when the temperature is 22C.

HVAC also helps filter out external pollutants. External pollutants also negatively affect your productivity (see studies below).

The downside to an HVAC-equipped building is that should the system be poorly maintained, it can in fact spread diseases more quickly than a naturally ventilated one (sick building syndrome). This obviously negatively impacts your productivity.

Despite the possibility of SBS, I'm still of the opinion that the loss in productivity when people get sick is still less than the overall loss in productivity should the temperature not be controlled within the building (sickness affects a few people, temperature affects everyone). So my answer is yes, we do need aircon (and temperature control) in the office. It's by far the most consistent method of controlling the temperature around you.

Here are some of the studies. They specifically focus on an increase in temperature, but state that the reverse also applies.

Temperature effect on productivity:
http://eetd.lbl.gov/ie/pdf/LBNL-60946.pdf
http://eetd.lbl.gov/ie/pdf/LBNL-53191.pdf

Pollutant effect on productivity:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0668.1999.t01-1-00003.x/abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00218.x/full

There are many more studies I could quote, but I'm too lazy to go and dig them all up now.
 
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