Prepare Your Office for Summer
5 Tips to Make Your Office Summer-Ready
At this time of year, you prepare your wardrobe, so why not prepare your office for Summer? The days are getting longer, the temperature is rising and before you know it, Summer is here! It can be tricky keeping your staff warm in the office in Winter, but what about keeping cool in the warmer months?
We bring you five great tips to keep cool, motivated, and focused in the office during Spring and Summer.
1. Stay fresh, stay hydrated
In the balmy late Spring and Summer months, there’s no better way to stay cool than to hydrate regularly. According to the Natural Hydration Council, staying hydrated improves mental cognition and performance. We often forget to drink as much as we should while working, which also combats tiredness and fatigue.
Whether you have water coolers in your office or rely on good-old tap water, make sure your staff can easily access cool-to-cold water wherever they are. When you prepare your office for summer, your goal is to improve mood, comfort and as a benefit increase productivity.
Learn more about the importance of staying hydrated at work
2. Keep it light and breezy
Often it can be far too hot to just open the windows and expect the room to cool down by itself. Air conditioning and fans are a must when simple ventilation lets you down. When air conditioning proves too expensive, perhaps consider purchasing high quality ceiling and desk fans that circulate the air with larger, more powerful blades.
Placing fans directly in front of windows also naturally pulls in air from outside, rather than recirculating warmer air around the same area. By having the right equipment ready you can easily prepare your office for summer.
3. Choose the right decor
A lot of businesses decorate their offices in darker tones and choose darker furnishings. It may seem like an obvious point, but by opting for lighter hues for your walls, floors, ceilings, and furnishings you can help reflect any sunlight that may otherwise be absorbed.
In kitchen and bathroom areas, choosing a lighter shade of floor in a cooler material may also make a huge difference to the overall temperature of your building.
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4. Loosen up
A lot of office environments instill a strict-to-moderate dress code, either out of choice or regulatory purposes. Regardless, a little loosening of the rules (and ties) doesn’t go amiss on the hottest of hot days. By allowing people to dress a little lighter, staff automatically feel more comfortable and less likely to need to leave their desks as often.
Linen and light cotton tops, trousers, shorts or skirts all round can make a big difference to the temperature and mood of your busy working environment.
5. Have a Spring clean
Many businesses don’t think to change the layout of their offices each year, let alone to suit the season. Keep people cool by reorganising your desks and chairs and moving them as close to open windows as possible. This way, you can ensure that staff are as close to fresh air and a cooling breeze in the height of Summer.
When your office is naturally hot, encourage your staff to, where safe, seek a bit of fresh air outside at breaks. Other than these five simple tips, you could try keeping freezers on hand nicely stocked with ice for drinks, or even ice lollies!