Sweatshops are less productive as every degree over 85 reduces productivity by 3%

Researchers found at 26 garment factories in India that temperature was over 85 degrees inside the factory that for every extra degree it got hotter, productivity went down by 3% and profits went down by 2.2%.

LEDs reduced the temperature on the factory floor by over 4 degrees. The increased profits covered the cost of swapping in the LEDs in less than eight months.

LEDs used 14% of the energy and gave off 14% of the heat.

This shows that it is worthwhile to find ways to keep factories cool. Factory builders should try to find cooler conditions and air conditioning would have an economic justification.

The issue of reduced productivity with higher temperature could become a greater problem with global warming.

This also is a new opportunity to boost the productivity, profit and earnings in manufacturing for the developing world.

13 thoughts on “Sweatshops are less productive as every degree over 85 reduces productivity by 3%”

  1. I’m not surprised. I would also be interested in seeing research on how heat affects people differently regarding productivity and cognition. I have had such experiences as performing work while drenched in sweat from head to toe while my coworker had only a spot of skin about the size of a quarter where he was sweating, but he could barely move and only handed me tools when I needed them. There may be genetic differences involved.

  2. I’m not surprised. I would also be interested in seeing research on how heat affects people differently regarding productivity and cognition. I have had such experiences as performing work while drenched in sweat from head to toe while my coworker had only a spot of skin about the size of a quarter where he was sweating but he could barely move and only handed me tools when I needed them. There may be genetic differences involved.

  3. Such research is fairly standard, and is a normal part of engineering workplace design. You can get tables of the ideal working temperatures for different sorts of occupation, because clearly a job that involves more physical activity will generate more heat, so you would like a slightly cooler environment. Other confusing factors are that it depends on the outside temperature (during warm weather people adapt so they prefer slightly warmer temperatures than when it is cold outside), there are also individual differences between people. And of course women prefer warmer temperatures than men, both because they have different body shapes (no, it’s true!) different physiologies, and they insist on wearing less clothing. One medical practice I advised was finding that the patients in the waiting room were always complaining it was cold, while the office workers (who set the controller position) kept complaining it was warm. The explanation was obvious, the people in the waiting room weren’t doing anything, while the office workers were working, walking around, doing stuff, even sitting at a computer involves more motion and more brain work than leafing through an old fashion magazine. So the workers were generating more body heat and likes the room noticeably cooler.

  4. Such research is fairly standard and is a normal part of engineering workplace design.You can get tables of the ideal working temperatures for different sorts of occupation because clearly a job that involves more physical activity will generate more heat so you would like a slightly cooler environment.Other confusing factors are that it depends on the outside temperature (during warm weather people adapt so they prefer slightly warmer temperatures than when it is cold outside) there are also individual differences between people. And of course women prefer warmer temperatures than men both because they have different body shapes (no it’s true!) different physiologies and they insist on wearing less clothing.One medical practice I advised was finding that the patients in the waiting room were always complaining it was cold while the office workers (who set the controller position) kept complaining it was warm. The explanation was obvious the people in the waiting room weren’t doing anything while the office workers were working walking around doing stuff even sitting at a computer involves more motion and more brain work than leafing through an old fashion magazine. So the workers were generating more body heat and likes the room noticeably cooler.

  5. It’ll be interesting to see if Brian lets your clinical opinion stand. It seems he is passive-aggressively communicating to the serial commentators that he finds their general discourse unsatisfactory or unsavory for his brand by deleting their comments.

  6. It’ll be interesting to see if Brian lets your clinical opinion stand. It seems he is passive-aggressively communicating to the serial commentators that he finds their general discourse unsatisfactory or unsavory for his brand by deleting their comments.

  7. I thought the issue was that comments get randomly moved to other articles, rather than deleted all together.

  8. It’ll be interesting to see if Brian lets your clinical opinion stand. It seems he is passive-aggressively communicating to the serial commentators that he finds their general discourse unsatisfactory or unsavory for his brand by deleting their comments.

  9. Such research is fairly standard, and is a normal part of engineering workplace design.

    You can get tables of the ideal working temperatures for different sorts of occupation, because clearly a job that involves more physical activity will generate more heat, so you would like a slightly cooler environment.

    Other confusing factors are that it depends on the outside temperature (during warm weather people adapt so they prefer slightly warmer temperatures than when it is cold outside), there are also individual differences between people.

    And of course women prefer warmer temperatures than men, both because they have different body shapes (no, it’s true!) different physiologies, and they insist on wearing less clothing.

    One medical practice I advised was finding that the patients in the waiting room were always complaining it was cold, while the office workers (who set the controller position) kept complaining it was warm. The explanation was obvious, the people in the waiting room weren’t doing anything, while the office workers were working, walking around, doing stuff, even sitting at a computer involves more motion and more brain work than leafing through an old fashion magazine. So the workers were generating more body heat and likes the room noticeably cooler.

  10. I’m not surprised. I would also be interested in seeing research on how heat affects people differently regarding productivity and cognition. I have had such experiences as performing work while drenched in sweat from head to toe while my coworker had only a spot of skin about the size of a quarter where he was sweating, but he could barely move and only handed me tools when I needed them. There may be genetic differences involved.

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