3 ms·

There's a couple mixed reasons for this I think, you see it in the US even where suits in the office are less of a thing until you hit upper management. One big

by rtkwe 4y ago

There's a couple mixed reasons for this I think, you see it in the US even where suits in the office are less of a thing until you hit upper management. One big one I think though is it's simpler to add layers to warm up for people who prefer a warmer temperature than it is for individuals to cool down. So given two groups that need different settings to get comfortable it makes sense to tend towards the low end. Of course Japan has it's own weirdness about this where suits could be slipped but office culture pushes back.

jstarfish 4y ago
ESID, for real. Blasting the AC is usually symptomatic of a poorly-implemented HVAC system. Someone in the building is working in an office that has poor circulation, so they complain until someone with control turns the thermostat down a few degrees. Everywhere else in the building becomes a little chillier. People start complaining it's too cold. It gets turned up a few degrees. Repeat. It's been a while since I worked in anything akin to a Japanese cubicle hell, but I've worked in a lot of female-dominated offices. Anecdotally: > in my workplace it's women that control the thermostats and they set it to freezing Before HVAC automation and smart/demand-response systems took that perk away from them (an early casualty in the war-on-women), IME it was usually middle-aged women who governed the thermostat. Biological factors (pregnancy, menses, etc.) lead them to perceive ambient temperature as being hotter than it actually is, and so they set the thermostat to temperatures that "feel" sane to them. Hormones are a poorly-understood beast-- assuming you're male, you'll experience this yourself if you ever have testosterone fluctuations. Women also tend(ed?) to work around a lot of heat-producing appliances like faxes, laser printers, copiers, CRTs, and underspec desktop workstations with CPUs perpetually pegged at 100%. None of this was accounted for in building designs from the past.

by rtkwe 4y ago

jstarfish 4y ago

ESID, for real. Blasting the AC is usually symptomatic of a poorly-implemented HVAC system. Someone in the building is working in an office that has poor circulation, so they complain until someone with control turns the thermostat down a few degrees. Everywhere else in the building becomes a little chillier. People start complaining it's too cold. It gets turned up a few degrees. Repeat. It's been a while since I worked in anything akin to a Japanese cubicle hell, but I've worked in a lot of female-dominated offices. Anecdotally: > in my workplace it's women that control the thermostats and they set it to freezing Before HVAC automation and smart/demand-response systems took that perk away from them (an early casualty in the war-on-women), IME it was usually middle-aged women who governed the thermostat. Biological factors (pregnancy, menses, etc.) lead them to perceive ambient temperature as being hotter than it actually is, and so they set the thermostat to temperatures that "feel" sane to them. Hormones are a poorly-understood beast-- assuming you're male, you'll experience this yourself if you ever have testosterone fluctuations. Women also tend(ed?) to work around a lot of heat-producing appliances like faxes, laser printers, copiers, CRTs, and underspec desktop workstations with CPUs perpetually pegged at 100%. None of this was accounted for in building designs from the past.