Secretarial Services - Temperature affects typing errors

Temperature Affects Typing Errors/Performance

If your office is too cold, you might not be typing as accurately or as much as you could be. A landmark study shows that typing errors increase and typing performance decreases as office temperatures drop.

In a study evaluating the impact of indoor environmental conditions on worker productivity, Cornell University ergonomics professor Alan Hedge found a 74 percent increase in typing mistakes and a 46 percent reduction in typing output when office temperatures fell from 77 F to 68 F. The findings were presented in June at the 2004 Eastern Ergonomics Conference in New York City.

During the study, Hedge placed HOBO data loggers (from Onset Computer Corporation) or miniature temperature recorders at nine workstations at the Insurance Office of America's corporate headquarters in Orlando, Florida. The loggers sampled air temperature every 15 minutes for an entire working month. This data then was correlated with a month's worth of ergonomic data to show how typing performance worsened as temperatures fell.

Hedge says: "Temperature is certainly a key variable that can impact performance. As employees typed, we knew the amount of time they were keying and the amount of time they were making error corrections. At 77 degrees Fahrenheit, employees were keying 100 percent of the time with a 10 percent error rate while at 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the keying rate went down to 54 percent of the time with a 25 percent error rate. This study shows that when employees get chilly, at least in this case, they are not working to their full potential."

Hedge estimated that the decreased productivity resulted in a 10 percent increase in labor cost per worker per hour.

Keep the temperature in your home office comfortable and your fingers warm to reduce typing errors and increase performance.

You can find a detailed presentation about this study at http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/CUEHEECE_IEQDown.html.