People work faster when feeling slightly cold. Warmth makes workers drowsy and slow. Hence the controversy of offices always being cold (which allegedly is sexist because it bothers women more than men) and wasting energy in air-conditioning.
People also work better when they are hungry. Hence the tip of always booking meetings for before lunchtime.
People also work faster when on hard chairs or stools or standing, under too-bright lights, etc.
So there is a pattern that being uncomfortable (not unhappy exactly) increases productivity.
It is well known in HR groups that the best way to retain workers, is not to pay them well or improve their quality of life in other ways. People mostly leave because of social problems at work or other sources of discontentment. To make people content to stay, you organise parties, offer free coffee, have company competitions. You keep them socially bound to work, which is much cheaper than increasing pay or otherwise really improving their lives.
So the common theme here is to make people permanently physically uncomfortable, but occasionally joyous. And ignore how well they are doing outside of work.
This is obviously not a serious theory or explanation like most of my articles. Just some connected observations.
It’s easy to dress for a slightly cool environment. It’s more difficult to dress professionally for a warm one. Given that business wear tends to be warm, a cool office makes sense.
People get drowsy after meals, and become mentally exhausted toward the end of the day. If you want productive meetings, you don’t schedule them after lunch.
I haven’t experienced hard chairs for office workers. Ergonomics is important for reducing workplace injuries.
As far as workplace social events go, there is a certain type of person who really loves those kind of things. The ideal is to have them but not make them mandatory.
An office can be a pleasant place where people work together to achieve their goals, or it can be a pit of nastiness where you’re always looking for the next knife coming at your back. If you find yourself in the latter, quit and find a better place to work. Life’s too short for that kind of crap.