Few office debates are more fraught than the thermostat. While some of us envelop our goosebumps in desk blankets, others bask in glacial air-conditioning, unfettered by the dissonance between summer heat and open-layout freezers.
Then of course there’s Jim, who always seems comfortable. No one likes Jim.
As summer approaches, these temperature debates will only intensify—sometimes escalating into full-blown arguments. According to a new, nationally representative CareerBuilder survey of over 1,000 full-time, private sector American workers, nearly half say their office is either too hot or too cold.
This temperature dissatisfaction has bottom-line influence, as 51% of respondents say that working in an office that’s too cold hurts their productivity, while 67% say that working in an office that’s too warm does the same.
What’s worse, according to this survey, 15% of workers say they’ve argued with coworkers about the office temperature, either in person or via messaging platforms. And to confirm your deep-seated suspicions, a striking one in five of us has secretly adjusted the office thermostat during the summer (13% of survey respondents said they made it cooler, while 6% made it warmer).
Spend one summer in an office, and you’ll realize the primary factor influencing office temperature battles is gender. With good reason—men are literally freezing women out of the workplace. As Quartz’s Gwynn Guilford explains, “female office workers around the world brace for hot weather by bundling up—even as their male colleagues type away in shirtsleeves. There’s a simple reason: Office temperatures are designed for men.”