I recently attended a presentation on the Economic Outlook for 2020. The speaker discussed how tight the US labor market has become and how hard it is for employers to retain employees. Currently, there are over 7 million job openings in the US. He joked, “In a tight labor market like this, one day you could see someone clerking at a gas station and the next day working as a sushi chef.” I appreciated the exaggerated humor, but it also made me glad that my wife and I know the chefs at our favorite sushi place.
However, the joke made me think about what a manufacturing employer needs to retain employees in today’s competitive job climate. Studies on employee retention have shown people are attracted to employers paying top wages and providing good benefits, but tend to stay because they like the work environment and how they are treated. Manufacturing employers with an improperly ventilated facility that gets excessively hot five months out of the year may be losing employees for a reason that can be prevented and corrected.
Better Work Environments Start with Comfort Cooling
To become an employer of choice, a manufacturer with a hot facility must provide comfort cooling for workers. Installing ventilation equipment that will remove excess heat and provide air movement is the first step for improvement. Eldridge recommends starting with the installation of fans to bring in enough outside air so that the temperature inside the facility is the same as the outside temperature. The volume of air required to achieve this will depend on the amounts of solar heat gain and heat generated by manufacturing equipment.
When the excess heat has been removed from the building making the inside and outside temperatures the same, the next step in providing comfort cooling is installing fans to create air movement where workers are present. Although these fans will not lower the actual temperature, the air movement they provide will make workers feel cooler by evaporating their sweat.
For workers that are relatively stationary, such as those operating fixed machinery, we recommend using spot cooling fans to provide a constant directed flow of air across the work area. For larger high traffic areas such as those around dock doors, HVLS fans are a good option to provide air movement.
Benefits of Comfort Cooling
An investment in comfort cooling not only accomplishes creating a better work environment for employees but companies will actually see numerous financial benefits. When employee retention is up, costs associated with recruiting and training go down. Studies show worker productivity decreases by 1% for every degree that the temperature inside the workplace exceeds 77oF. Comfort cooling can achieve a total temperature decrease (real and perceived) of 20o. This translates into a 20% improvement in productivity of workers simply because they are cooler. When all of the financial benefits of comfort cooling are added up, the payback period of your investment is actually rather short.
Passionate About Comfort Cooling
Eldridge’s team is dedicated to creating better work environments through comfort cooling. We know companies are sincere about taking care of their employees, but may not be aware of how investing in comfort cooling really becomes a win-win for employee satisfaction and the company’s bottom line. If you struggle to retain employees or notice productivity decreases in the summer, Eldridge is here to help you quantify the benefits of comfort cooling and justify making that investment!