Winter has the potential to make the average workplace in the United Kingdom an even less pleasant place than it may already be. Dark days, cold weather and the fact that you are always surrounded by those who seem hell-bent on sharing their winter bugs and bacteria with you.
On the plus side, it is at least possible to make the working environment in general as pleasant as possible throughout the unpleasant months of the year. It’s simply a case of being proactive, rather than spending the gloomy season in a state of eternal doom and gloom yourself, praying at all times for an early spring.
For example:
Windows
Chances are, the vast majority of heat loss that occurs in your office happens through the windows. Even if they do happen to be double-glazed and closed at all times, there is still every chance they are transferring way too much heat in the wrong direction. As such, it’s worth thinking about the window dressings you use in the workplace, not to mention whether or not you have storm-proofing in place where windows are less than tightly secured.
Car Park
Another extremely important duty is that of keeping your car park and any other external pedestrian areas as safe as possible during the cold weather. This means proactively preventing the build-up of ice and snow, using salt or whatever products you prefer. Clearing ice and snow is something that should be done on a relatively constant basis as it is forming/settling, as opposed to waiting until things hit crisis point before attempting to tackle them.
Protect the Floors
It’s also worth remembering that all that ice, snow, wetness and salt outdoors has the potential to wreak havoc with your flooring when brought indoors. There’s not a great deal you can do to prevent your indoor floors getting at least a little dirty, but you can certainly help minimise the problem with effective doormats inside and out, not to mention at least one person assigned to keeping all entrances clean and dry at all times.
Check the Heating
Rather than waiting for the worst of the weather to hit, it is a much better idea to have your heating systems checked before the winter sets in. Not only this, but you might want to think about having your pipework in general checked over, rather than running the risk of the whole system freezing and being rendered inoperable further down the line.
Share Responsibilities
If there are more cleaning and general maintenance duties to take care of during the winter, be sure to share the responsibilities out evenly between members of the workforce. Make sure that everyone comes together with the same collective goal in mind and understands exactly what their own duties are. Alternatively, save time and money by employing the Absolutely Gleaming Services experts for an efficient and safe cleaning solution.
Be Flexible
Last but not least, rather than running the risk of employees being late, getting stuck in the office or of not being able to make it into work at all, it’s worth considering how flexible you can be when it comes to things like flexible hours or even remote working. If a particularly unpleasant spell of weather is expected, think carefully about who may be able to perform their duties just as well from home.