Ideal Office Temperature?

[RolliePollie]

It's HOT in here!!! I am so uncomfortably hot right now that I'm losing it so I have to vent. I can't work like this!

I know everyone is different, and I'll admit I am generally hot compared to other people, but I am sitting here roasting because it's 77 degrees at my desk. And the heaters are on. Does anyone else think this is kinda hot? How is a person supposed to wear their cute winter clothes when it feels like summer in the office? I am wearing lightweight clothes and I have a fan blowing on me, but I'm uncomfortable and sweaty and sleepy. And my face kinda looks like this (color is pretty accurate):

What do you all think is the optimum temperature for an office environment? I would say between 70-72.

[Veronica]

72 degress with 32 fifth graders. One of them really needs a shower. It's darn unpleasant working near him.

Veronica

[lph]

How about the temp that allows the "hottest" person to work comfortably in short sleeves? Lower if anyone needs to move around a lot. You can always put on more clothing, but it's hard to wear less than short sleeves and thin pants in an office. I wear a sleeveless top and linen summer pants at work a lot now, even when it's seriously cold out... And then have a jacket or cardigan handy.

[GLC1968]

I often spend most of my days in a 12ft x 12ft Faraday cage with two large pieces of measurement equipment both of which have constant fans venting the hot air out of the equipment onto me. Additionally, the entire test floor outside of the cage must maintain a constant temperature and humidity (which feels downright steamy on cold dry days!) and I'm required to wear a non-breathing metal laced static coat and rubber shoes that have no ventilation. Can you say ICK? That's bad winter or summer!

But, I must say that our office space is great. Our company tries for that 'green' image thing, so for the most part, it's warmer in here in the summer and cooler in the winter...as it should be.

[Pax]

My office is a small metal cave buried in the bookstacks...the buliding is ancient and heated with steam...my office is 85 degrees most days.

[Possegal]

This is why I use a heater in my office and don't complain to anyone about the temps on the floor. I am always cold. If they made it comfortable for me, then too many people would be too hot. And I feel it is easier for me to get warmer with the heater, and sometimes a blanket that I have in here than for others to get comfortable with the thermostat raised.

It is also why I find working from home the most comfortable!

[sfa]

I'm cold. Ostensibly the office is heated to 72 degrees, which would be nice, but it varies wildly from room to room and my office has an enormous window (nice view; I'm not complaining) that radiates cold from outside. Sometimes I get so cold that I have to sit on my hands because they are too stiff to type.

Sarah

[BikeDutchess]

77? Wow! I work from home full-time and keep my thermostat at 64 during work hours because I'm a cheapskate and don't want to heat the whole house when I'm just working in one room. Sometimes I'll use a space heater when I just get too chilled, but those things scare me (I always worry about forgetting to unplug it).

When I still worked in an office, the temperature was never right, always too hot or too cold!

[tctrek]

Well, my very large corporation has a rule -- they set the thermostat to 65 in Winter and 79 in summer. I can do the 65 just fine. But I roast in there in the winter. And we are prohibited from bringing fans or heaters into the office.
I think 65-68 is great to work in any season.

[solobiker]

I work in the rehab section of a nursing home and boy does it get hot. Each patient room has it's own heat control. When I walk by some rooms I feel the heat pouring out. Most of them keep their rooms above 80 degrees. It gets pretty tough to work with someone when their room is like a sauna. I had to step outside 3x today to cool off. ( This moring it was only 1 degree ) Felt much better outside.

[Aggie_Ama]

For some reason the corner my cubicle is in doesn't have heat blowing (or in our hot summers, AC). I just bought a tiny space heater for under $20 and I am happy. Our president is always hot so our office is more often cold, but you can always wear more clothes or have a little heater. And in the summer I have a small fan that was less than $10. Of course my mom is not allowed to have a heater and had to get approval to have an office fan, so I guess I am lucky.

[bambu101]

I work in a 1-year old $143 million-dollar supposedly state-of-the-art environmentally "green" building with lights that dim or brighten according to the outside light, photovotaic solar panels, etc.

However, it is 79 to 80 degrees year round in the west wing where we are located. People complain all the time, but it doesn't seem like they can get it right. The heat makes people sleepy and stuffed-up, and I can never wear anything warmer than a cotton button-down shirt, even if it is 5 degrees outside.

So much for modern technology.....

[Eden]

Warmer than it ever is..... Yeah I'm the one who's always cold, despite wearing wool socks and sweaters. I'm with sfa - I'd wear gloves if it were practical..... (and no I can't have a space heater - I work in a hospital and there's no way I'd get anything like that approved....) I'd probably like GLC's job - mmmmm sounds toasty.

[Trek420]

Well, my very large corporation has a rule -- they set the thermostat to 65 in Winter and 79 in summer. I can do the 65 just fine. But I roast in there in the winter. And we are prohibited from bringing fans or heaters into the office.
I think 65-68 is great to work in any season.

Do we work for the same company?

As long as the computers are comfy; not too hot or cold it's ok with corporate real estate. Heaters are not allowed, not even UL rated with the trip switch. I totally understand that. Some people leave them on overnight, it's kinda a big building to go up in flames.

Fans there's some leeway; personal and battery operated only.

[Mr. Bloom]

As the senior person in my building, I can assure you that there is no way to make everyone happy.

Some funny stories:

Three women in offices at the back of the building were freezing. Their thermostat was in my assistant's office...and she had a space heater, so the heat never kicked on in the back offices.

We had one conference room that we couldn't get below 84 in the summer...and we're have meetings with 20 people in there. We had engineers looking at it for weeks. Turns out the thermostat was installed directly across from a floor vent. Once we closed that vent, it could properly regulate itself.

We shoot for low 70's in the winter and mid 70's in the summer. It's been my observation that airflow is as big an issue as temperature setting. We take the blower fans off constant flow in the winter and everyone's much happier.