Productivity is a major cornerstone of business success. It always has been and probably always will be.

The measurement of productivity can be more difficult for some business types than others. Whether your business allows for productivity to be easily measured or not, it clearly a smart move to provide the best possible environment for your team.

We can provide you with a selection of low cost steps designed to help improve the productivity of your team. These steps have the ability to return your investment many times over.

Aside from the obvious issues related to high productivity like education, training and tools there are a few other things that are proven to increase productivity.

Studies have shown comfort can impact productivity by as much as 15%.

It doesn’t take very many team members in an office building to make that 15% start to add up. If you have 25 people in the building with an average costs of $25,000 a year, and comfort is a problem only a week a year, lost productivity cost are close to $2,000.

That only includes salaries. The cost of the mistakes made, customers upset or lost sales is many times more.

What is comfort?

Comfort is the combination of several factors. The most commonly considered is temperature. But we know that temperature is only a part of what we think of as comfort.

Humidity also plays a large role in keeping you comfortable. Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air. The more moisture the higher the humidity and the less comfortable you are.

Air conditioning systems are responsible for both temperature and humidity. (If you were unaware, a dehumidifier is a specialized air conditioning unit.)

The next productivity issue to consider is cleanliness of the air. If you are sneezing and coughing because of particulates in the air it is difficult to stay productive. This is one of the easiest to correct. By changing the air filters in the building’s air conditioning system on a regular and frequent basis you can go a long way towards keeping the air clear, and the equipment too.

Another issue is the amount of fresh air being brought into the building. If you are only recycling air the concentration of carbon dioxide starts to increase. High levels of carbon dioxide are associated with headaches, sleepiness and increased mistakes when reading or math is required.

Lastly, uncomfortable people are more likely to argue with each other, be disagreeable and are generally unhappy with just about everything.