Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

U.S. NEWS A7
Wednesday 10 January 2018

American Living:

Take this job and shiver it: Chilly offices plague workers

“I am still shivering,” the buildings suitable for a rate closer to 80 percent,
39-year-old graphic design- range of uses over many he said. The challenge
er said last week, estimat- years. The down side is isn’t just confined to the
ing the temperature in the that they provide little cli- winter, of course. Chilly of-
office was in the mid-60s mate control to individual fices have long been the
while outside, the city hit tenants — sometimes pur- bane of women who com-
19 below zero at one point. posely, said Khee Poh Lam, plain air conditioning is
“Living in the Midwest, I’m architecture professor at cranked up in the summer
well-trained to dress warmly Carnegie Mellon University to appease their male, suit-
and in layers, but this deep in Pittsburgh. wearing counterparts. And
freeze has been difficult to Thermostats are often there are certainly many
endure, especially when I tucked into hard-to-reach offices with overzealous
expect to be comfortable spaces like false ceilings furnaces that prompt work-
— or at least not shivering and air ducts so office ten- ers to crack open windows
— inside.” ants can’t mess with them, even on the coldest days.
As much of the nation mud- Lam said. Other buildings Optimal temperature for
dled through bitter weath- have dummy units out in office work is 72 to 79 de-
er in recent weeks, office the open that don’t actu- grees — or nearly 10 de-
dwellers found they still had ally do anything except grees more than what
to brave the cold even give desperate workers the many buildings typically set
when indoors. Many relied illusion of control. their thermostats, said Alan
on winter parkas, gloves, Finding the right tempera- Hedge, a design professor
blankets and space heat- ture to please everyone at Cornell University in New
ers just to keep working. has been an elusive goal York who has researched
“Today I’ve got two sweat- for office designers and how temperature affects
ers, a scarf, ear coverings, builders, said Stefano Schi- productivity. Schiavon sug-
gloves and a blanket over avon, architecture pro- gested that companies,
my lap,” Rebecca Miller, fessor at the University of even those based in the
a 27-year-old academic California, Berkeley, who draftiest old offices, can
adviser at Tennessee State co-wrote a 2012 study that invest in safe, relatively in-
University in Nashville, said found roughly 40 percent expensive technology to
last week as temperatures of U.S. workers were satis- keep workers warm and
barely ticked above 50 fied with their office’s tem- productive, like heated
degrees in her office while perature. Design standards chairs, electric blankets
outside it was 20 degrees call for an acceptability and heated floor mats.q
or lower in the daytime.
In this Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018, selfie photo provided by Rebecca “But I’m still having a hard
time working. I’m shaking
Miller, Miller, an academic adviser at Tennessee State University, cold, and it’s hard to focus.
The gloves make it hard to
wears sweaters, a scarf, ear coverings, gloves and a blanket over type, and the bulky layers
make it difficult to move
her lap while she works at her desk in Holland Hall on campus in around.”
Like thousands of oth-
Nashville, Tenn. Many office workers find they still have to brave er chilly Americans, she
snapped selfies at her desk
the cold even after they escape the frigid outdoors during the in attire usually reserved for
the ski slopes and shared
extremely cold winter weather. them on social media.
Office developments are
(Rebecca Miller via AP) built with centralized heat-
ing systems that make the
By PHILIP MARCELO of socks.

Associated Press That has been Karen Eric-

Two long-sleeved shirts, a son’s go-to outfit in her of-

sweater, a fleece jacket, fice in Des Moines, Iowa, in

two scarves and two pairs recent weeks.