For some working in an office, when the outside temperatures are up, the inside temps seem to plunge. So how cool should the indoors really be?
Freezing office dwellers are taking to TikTok to complain about the low temperature settings and the extreme need to bundle up at their desks.
“This little space heater here,” TikToker @leannp0721 says in her video. “I’ve had it running more this week when it’s been 85 degrees outside than I have the entire year I’ve worked here.”
The women on TODAY's staff are stocked up on office sweaters, blankets, heaters and even cozy slippers.
But the office men? They appear perfectly content with the lower temperature in the office. Some even shared that “it feels warm” and they're opting for short sleeves.
But there is some truth and statistics to back up the hotter or cooler temps debate. According to a 2021 study published in Nature Journal, women are three times as likely to be uncomfortably cold in the office during the summer.
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It's also impacting their jobs. A separate 2019 study found as room temperatures warmed up from the 60s to the 70s, female performance on verbal and math tests actually increased by 15%.
USC associate professor Tom Chang, who co-authored the research, told TODAY that “just adjusting the thermostat a degree or two” gives people that performance boost.
Men, on the other hand, test worse in warmer temps. Chang, though, found that women were impacted a bit more by the cold.
So what should one do?
“I think the key takeaway is not one size fits all,” Chang told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager. “I got notes from older women who are in menopause and they said, ‘You know, I used to always be on Team ‘It’s Too Damn Cold.’ And now I’m with the guys and the three piece suit saying like, ‘Crank up the AC’”
Chang suggests office managers listen to their teams' opinions and pay attention to those who say it’s too cold or too hot.
“And actually listen to them,” he said. “Making them more comfortable affects their productivity, which should matter to everyone.”
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