Worker Performance and Ventilation: Analyses of Individual Data for Call-Center Workers

We investigated the relationship between ventilation rates and work performance in a call center. We randomized the ventilation controls and measured ventilation rate, differential carbon dioxide (ΔCO₂) concentration, temperature, humidity, occupant density, degree of under-staffing, shift length, time of day, and time required to complete two different work performance tasks (talk and wrap-up). ΔCO₂ concentrations ranged from 13 to 611 ppm. We used multi-variable regression to model the association between the predictors and the responses. We found that agents performed talk tasks fastest when the ventilation rate was highest, but that the relationship between talk performance and ventilation was not monotone. We did not find a statistically significant association between wrap-up performance and ventilation. At high temperatures agents were slower at both the talk and wrap-up tasks. Agents were slower at wrap-up during long shifts and when the call center was under-staffed.