Companies Combat Summertime 'Thermostat Wars' With Mildly Creepy Social Experiment

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As everyone who works in an office is well-aware, with the start of summer brings the division of employees into two warring camps: those who are freezing their gonads (or, more likely, ovaries*) off and want to raise the temperature and those who are either sitting pretty or could withstand another 5 degree drop. At start AppNexus, a new app "allows employees to order up a 10-minute blast of cool air or heat on command." At a hedge fund in Stamford, CT, where the boss likes to keep things chilly, staffers' options are to STFU and don a fleece or GFTO. And at companies where management thinks, accurately, that people are stupid, this happens:

To placate chronic complainers, some facility managers install dummy thermostats. They’re equipped with buttons or dials to give occupants an illusion of control, but lack any connection to the air-conditioning system. Ms. Levine doesn’t approve of the tactic, but says she has seen dummy thermostats actually make office workers happier, because they felt as if they have some control over the temperature. Research shows office workers perform best when they have control over their physical environment.

Let the Office Thermostat Wars Begin [WSJ]

*"Women typically prefer warmer temperatures because their metabolic rates are slower; they’re often cold when thermostats are set to suit males, says a widely reported study last year in Nature Climate Change."

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