Humidity in the office - and why it is so important Bad air in the office and its consequences

A lack of humidity in the workplace has several unpleasant consequences for everyone involved:

• The wrong office air ensures that employees get tired more quickly. The following applies: the more strenuous the work, the better the air should be. Fatigue leads to mistakes at work, a generally slower pace of work and, if the air in the office is bad over a long period of time, to irritability.
• Poorly ventilated rooms increase the likelihood of employees becoming ill. Normally there are indoor air systems that remove “used” air - but they cannot catch every small bacteria. If the humidity in the office is not right, the risk of illness increases.
• Last but not least, poorly air-conditioned rooms that are too dry are also more susceptible to damage directly to the building structure. If there is a lack of humidity in the workplace, renovation work will probably have to be carried out on the property in the long term - and then it will be really expensive.

Apart from damage to the property, it is primarily the performance and health of the employees that suffer from poor office air - but what exactly makes a good indoor climate?

For most people in our latitude and longitude, the optimal humidity is somewhere between 40 and 60%. In summer this can often be achieved by simply opening the windows - but things are different, especially in winter. Because cold air cannot store moisture as well as warm air. In addition, radiators are then active, which remove additional water from the air. The humidity drops significantly, especially in autumn and winter, and then falls below the critical level.

It is not unlikely that the air in the office will “overheat” – even if you heat sparingly. In addition to heaters, a modern office has numerous devices such as notebooks and PCs that also produce a lot of waste heat - not to mention the employees themselves, who also use small ovens and heat the air. Incidentally, the same problems threaten in summer, but then due to air conditioning systems that also remove moisture from the air.

If the necessary humidity is missing in the office, there are many different problems for your employees:

• As already mentioned, the risk of disease increases. This is also due to the fact that dry room air dries out the mucous membranes. This in turn leads to a weakening of the immune system, so that actually harmless bacteria and viruses can suddenly trigger illnesses. This fact is of course particularly threatening during typical “sick times”, when half the workforce in the office becomes infected with each other.
• For sensitive people, a lack of humidity in the office also causes skin and eyes to dry out. In the skin area, this manifests itself as itching, which can quickly cost your last nerve. If your office mainly involves working on screens, which can be quite straining on the eyes, bad air in the office also leads to watery, burning eyes, which also affects performance and mood.
• The already mentioned problems with the mucous membranes can also affect the vocal cords. It is then quite possible that an employee's voice simply fails or that it sounds a bit hoarse. This is particularly bad news for people who have to delegate a lot and therefore rely on a strong, noticeable voice - or for employees who spend a lot of time on the phone with important customers.
• In addition to physical stress, poor humidity in the office can also have psychological consequences: For people who are already under stress, the poor indoor climate could be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. A place where you generally feel uncomfortable doesn't contribute to a healthy psyche anyway - so you end up with a lack of concentration and a general rejection of the job.

You already see: If there is a lack of humidity in the office, this can have dramatic consequences. That's why we're now looking at some measures you can take to protect your employees.

Before you simply act without knowing whether there is anything wrong, you should check the current situation - and this can be done, for example, with a thermo-hygrometer. These small, inexpensive devices will show you Temperature and also the humidity. Slightly higher quality devices also record the data over a longer period of time and thus allow long-term conclusions to be drawn.

Unfortunately, recognizing the problem is not enough: For example, according to a new study from the University of South California, women prefer to work in slightly higher temperatures and men in colder air. Of course, you can't solve this problem with devices; you simply have to find a compromise with your employees.

PLANTS IN THE OFFICE AS HUMIDIFIERS

You can achieve a generally appreciated remedy for dry air if you consider green plants as humidifiers in the office. Here you should focus primarily on Plants in the office with particularly large leaves. You can't expect miracles from this, but the measurement technology will show that there is a small difference in the humidity in the office when you set up plants.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT FURNITURE

High-quality office furniture can also have a direct influence on humidity: Office chair, Desk & Co. should ideally be made of high-quality materials. Cheap models use various plasticizers instead of high-quality rubber as well as heavy metals or formaldehyde. Over a long period of time, these materials escape from the furniture and enrich the air unnoticed. The simple solution to this problem is to invest in furniture that does not contain harmful substances.

THE SIMPLE SOLUTION: HUMIDIFIER IN THE OFFICE

Sometimes all the tips don't help because the external circumstances simply don't allow the situation to improve. Then humidifiers are the right choice: The very compact devices contain water, which the humidifier then releases into the environment over a long period of time. After a short time, optimal humidity in the office is achieved. High-quality models also filter pathogens out of the air.

Before you blindly buy a device, you should make sure that the humidifier is suitable for your office. In the technical data you will find information regarding the room volume (expressed in cubic meters). Some devices only manage 300 cubic meters, others reach four-digit values. Buy what suits your office.

There are also models whose water supply you have to refill manually and humidifiers that can be refilled automatically. The latter are of course more convenient because they simply get their water independently via a corresponding connection - but these models also cost more.

As you can see, there is no substitute for the right humidity in the office: it reduces illnesses, prevents fatigue, reduces psychological stress, protects the mucous membranes and enables employees to develop their maximum productivity without stress. Even small tricks like a few plants help to sustainably improve the indoor climate for all employees. If that doesn't help, professional humidifiers and the right furniture need to solve the problem - and this investment is guaranteed to pay off in the long run.