Anyone who has to go to work on a hot summer day knows how tiring it can be. Brain function slows, commutes are more uncomfortable, and for people who work outside the home, it simply becomes a challenge to stay safe. Together, these factors are creating a heat-related hit to worker productivity that will become even more pronounced as climate change leads to more intense heat waves.
“We used to think, ‘Well, people get hot and they sweat and they’re fine.’ But now we know that’s not necessarily the case,” said Jill Rosenthal, director of public health at the Center for American Progress, which released a report this month on the threat that extreme heat poses to U.S. workers.
Quantifying that threat can be difficult. Broadly speaking, it includes everything from weather-related commute disruptions to reduced cognitive performance, poor sleep and extra free time when children are kept out of schools where there is no air conditioning.
