You’re hot? I’m cold! Why our office temperature preferences can be vastly different to our colleagues

By Christian Moro and Charlotte Phelps for The Conversation

Gold Coast, Australia: As the weather warms up, offices are cranking up the air conditioning. But with such varying temperature preferences, where should you set the thermostat? It may be an impossible task to find an optimal temperature that suits everyone. So why do we have such different temperature preferences?

And does it affect more than our level of comfort?

Women tend to prefer a slightly warmer office.

While there are always more similarities than differences between the sexes, women tend to feel the cold more than men.

A 2021 study of more than 38,000 participants found 38 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the temperature of their office. Of those dissatisfied, women accounted for nearly two-thirds.

When asked, in other studies, the less satisfied women said they preferred warmer temperatures, while the less satisfied men would prefer a cooler office environment.

Although specifics vary, the optimal office temperature for women is often around 1°C higher than for men. One study reported the optimal temperature was 24.0°C for women and 23.2°C for men.

Can temperature affect your ability to work?

The room’s temperature can impact productivity. In warmer environments (above 25°C), men have been found to perform worse on maths and verbal tasks, while women performed worse on these tasks at cooler temperatures (below 25°C).

But on other tasks, temperature doesn’t appear to have an influence. Researchers found no difference to either gender’s performance on a number of cognitive tasks, such as cognitive reflection tests (where the questions are such that the intuitive answer is the wrong answer), or cognitive load tasks (where working memory is overloaded).

It is often proposed that concentration can be impacted by temperature, but this is not always the case.

When subjects (men and women) underwent a series of cognitive tasks, performance was not affected between 22°C (considered cold) and 25°C (considered hot) environments.

These researchers argued that maintaining a warmer temperature was optimal due to the environmental benefits and energy savings.

What’s behind gender temperature differences?

Hormones play a key role in our temperature preferences.

Testosterone causes more muscle development around the shoulders. Muscle generates heat, making men more likely to have warmer necks than women. This area is particularly sensitive to cool temperatures.

Oestrogen promotes and maintains different fat distributions in women, who tend to carry slightly more fat between the skin and muscles in a number of areas. This makes the skin feel cooler and drives a preference for slightly warmer temperatures.

Women also tend to have a lower metabolic rate (or slower metabolism) than men. This means women produce less heat and their bodies are more prone to feeling cold in cooler temperatures.

Women’s preferences can change from week to week

The menstrual cycle has a considerable influence on temperature preferences. After ovulation, the ovaries release more progesterone. This causes the body’s core temperature to warm by around 0.3–0.6°C. This means women will perceive the outside temperature as cooler than men, due to the larger thermal drop compared to their core temperatures.

Progesterone also helps conserve heat, diverting blood from the skin and into the organs. This means women’s hands, ears and feet may be up to 1-2°C colder than men’s. It’s harder to feel warm in a cool environment when your hands and feet are very cold.

At other times of the month, the opposite may be true. Oestrogen causes blood to flow to the skin, resulting in greater heat dissipation, and potential hot flushes.

During pregnancy and menopause, hormones change again, and can flow in different directions. This can cause a feeling of cold, but also hot flushes and transient increases in the sensation of warmth, where a cooler environment is far preferred.

This means some women may prefer a cooler temperature one week, then a warmer temperature the following.

What else impacts temperature preferences?

Overall, body size and composition has a strong influence on temperature preferences. As muscle generates heat, the more muscle mass we have the more heat we tend to generate, keeping us warmer.

The perception of temperature can also be impacted by many individual factors such as age, height and weight. Overweight body sizes are associated with a higher preference for a cooler environment.

Age can also affect thermoregulatory mechanisms, such as our body’s ability to sweat as well as noticing changes in the temperature. Children are also less likely to notice the cold than adults.

Of course, the sort of job a person does has an impact as well. The more you move around, the more heat you generate.

The dress code for the office also has an impact. If heavy business suits or formal attire is expected, a cooler environment may be more appropriate.

Ethnicity may also have an impact. When directly compared in one study, Asian participants reported being more comfortable in environments that were 5°C warmer than participants with European origins.

And lastly, we can’t overlook individual preference. Some people may have grown up in cool environments and simply be more used to the cold, and vice versa.

What about the environmental impact?

Heating and cooling can account for 20–50% of energy use in households and 40–70% of energy use in office buildings.

In summer, warmer office temperatures don’t use as much energy. In fact, energy use increases by 5–10% for each 1°C the temperature is lowered.

You don’t want to shut them down too much, though. Air conditioning systems also reduce humidity by removing moisture from the air, an important measure to prevent indoor mould growth.

With hormones that influence temperature preferences changing during the month, health status, body composition, individual experiences and age all playing a part, there may never be a one-size-fits-all approach to setting the office thermostat.

As such, it is recommended that staff are encouraged to have open conversations about the temperature, and for managers to listen to each member’s needs and be willing to change the thermostat where appropriate.

(Christian Moro is an Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University and Charlotte Phelps is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Medicine, Bond University.)