Employee productivity is, at least in part, influenced by the indoor environmental conditions in which people work. Temperature is often a major factor, and, according to a recent survey by the International Facilities Management Association, thermal comfort complaints were the single most common office complaint in 2003. It almost seems that in any work environment, whether it’s an industrial plant or an office park, some employees are always too hot, and others are always too cold. While the complaints themselves may not always be warranted, the potential dollars lost in productivity due to employee discomfort can be substantial. Since salaries typically make up over 90% of the total operating cost of a commercial building, even tiny increases in employee productivity can mean a lot to a company’s bottom line. Studies have shown, for instance, that just a three percent productivity gain can translate into a nearly $3 million gain in a 500,000-square-foot facility.

Before determining what the root cause of a comfort complaint might be (e.g., lack of proper zoning, poor workspace design, lack of ventilation) and taking corrective action, facilities managers must first figure out whether the subject area is in fact too hot or too cold. To validate temperature-related comfort complaints, an increasing number of facilities managers and HVAC contactors are relying on battery-powered data loggers. Data loggers are low-cost, compact instruments that incorporate built-in micro processing, high-accuracy temperature sensing, recording, and battery power in a self-contained package. Temperature data loggers employ sensors that can measure temperature, relative humidity, light, and other parameters. The logger monitors and records at user-defined intervals (e.g., every 10 minutes) and stores it digitally into its onboard memory. Many temperature loggers are small enough that they can be placed in hidden, “out-of-the-way” locations to gather information in a workspace without being seen or disturbed…

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