Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to expect free drinks facilities at work

61 replies

calculatorsatdawn · 21/05/2014 11:29

I work in an office with about a thousand people, there is canteen and a drinks machine that you can buy hot an cold drinks from.

I am terrible at managing my money and therefore have no cash to buy tea as I limp towards payday tomorrow. I made a flask of tea this morning and evidently I need to run the flask through the dishwasher as my tea tastes of soup, but at least I have a drink.

IABU to expect that we should have facilities to have a drink of water? If you forget your wallet or your flask of disgusting oxtail tea you can't have a drink all day. I leave the house at 7am and generally get home around 7pm.

OP posts:
Bellossom · 21/05/2014 11:32

Have you asked for water at the canteen? Can't imagine them refusing?

Rkg233 · 21/05/2014 11:32

Can't you even get a glass of tap water for free? Or at least you could stretch to buying a bottle of water and refilling it?

DocDaneeka · 21/05/2014 11:33

Most places will let you have free hot water. They usually only charge for the paper cup if they charge at all.

My top tip is to get a travel mug and ask for hot water, and find something you can drink without milk. I rarely travel without my travel mug and teabags, and almost never get charged either. If they do charge it is usually 25p rather than the two quid cost of a drink.

christinarossetti · 21/05/2014 11:34

I believe that workplaces have to provide drinking water by law, though may be wrong.

Could you not take in a big bottle of water that you've filled up from home each day?

kentishgirl · 21/05/2014 11:35

It is a legal requirement to provide access to drinking water.
See this link
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg293.pdf

AnnaLegovah · 21/05/2014 11:38

Under the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) regs 92 point 22 - 'An adequate supply of wholesome drinking water shall be provided for all persons at work in the workplace'.

So do you have access to free drinking water? Tea is a different matter. And are you in the UK?

Thurlow · 21/05/2014 11:38

It's a bit rubbish BUT I think yabu. By law a workplace only has to provide drinking water, so as long as you have access to water fountains etc then they are doing what they have to. Surely you have access to drinking water? It's just hot drinks you are talking about?

Having said that, it is a bit miserly. Every large office I've worked in either provides kitchens with kettles or hot water dispensers, or free tea and coffee vending machines, though tbf the tea you get from those machines is utterly rubbish. You could at least get hot water from them though.

My new job provides tea bags, milk and coffee for free too. 'Tis bliss!

But as much as it is annoying, you can't "expect" free hot drinks.

PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice · 21/05/2014 11:40

Of course there should be access to drinking water. Surely there is a staff kitchen?

Original poster
calculatorsatdawn · 21/05/2014 11:42

I did the bottle of water thing yesterday and thought I was being clever with the flask of tea today.

I will investigate further...

OP posts:
flossy101 · 21/05/2014 11:44

YANBU. Surprised at this, for a large company. wherever I have worked(offices) water, tea, coffee is always provided.

Original poster
calculatorsatdawn · 21/05/2014 11:46

no, canteen is open from 10 - 2 and the drinks machine charges 5p for cold water, the only other place is the sinks in the toilets. They don't say it's not drinking water but it seems a bit off to expect employees to fill bottles from taps in the toilet?

sorry, not clear, I'm not expecting free hot drinks, just somewhere I can get a drink of water

OP posts:
BitterAndOnlySlightlyTwisted · 21/05/2014 11:48

You can expect whatever you like but the employer is not obliged to supply anything, either charged for or free, that's not drinking water. The kind of miserly employer who won't provide a free cup of tea isn't worth working for.

AnnaLegovah · 21/05/2014 11:49

If the taps in the toilets provide water suitable for drinking they should be marked as such - stingy I agree but at least it's free. I'd ask if you can use them for that.

Does your company have a HR or H&S department you can contact?

PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice · 21/05/2014 11:50

That's terrible - so there are no facilities for people to make toast or heat up soup for lunch etc? I've never experienced that in an office. Certainly never had no kettle or drinking water. The latter is an essential - can you email building services or HR... I don't know who would be responsible for that.

YellowTulips · 21/05/2014 11:51

Where I work there are free water coolers, kitchens with a kettle and a filter coffee machine.

Tea, coffee, milk and sugar all provided for free.

There are vending machines for snacks and cans of pop for which you have to pay.

When I visit customer sites the set up is the same.

I think at a bare minimum you should have access to tap water and a kettle.

PumpkinPie2013 · 21/05/2014 11:54

Drinking water should be available free - my work do this for staff and students (work in a college)

We pay £5 per month or a set amount per drink for tea/coffee. The £5 allows unlimited tea/coffee so everyone does that. We have staff kitchens and you help yourself.

We have over 200 staff so providing it free would be far too expensive.

flowery · 21/05/2014 11:56

No kitchen facilities at all, and only a canteen open part of the time? That is incredibly unusual. Speak to your manager about where the free drinking water is. Surely most people wouldn't be happy about there not being anywhere for people to sort their lunch out if they bring it with them, or a fridge, access to plates or whatever? Sounds like a wider problem. Do you have an employee council or similar?

Thurlow · 21/05/2014 12:00

As someone else has linked to, drinking water is a legal obligation. The HSE says:

^Do I need to provide drinking water?
Yes. The law requires that you provide drinking water and ensure that:
? it is free from contamination and is preferably from the public water supply _ bottled water dispensers are acceptable as a secondary supply;
? it is easily accessible by all employees;
? there are adequate supplies taking into consideration the temperature of the working environment and types of work activity;
? cups or a drinking fountain are provided.
Drinking water does not have to be marked unless there is a significant risk of people drinking non-drinking water.

I guess if there are no fountains then they are kind of in breach of that - it says they need to provide cups etc, and charging for it is rather off.

But it depends how much of a pain you want to be with your HR department...

PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice · 21/05/2014 12:03

What kind of company is it, just out of interest? Presumably it's not a purpose-built office building?

WhereHas1999DissappearedToo · 21/05/2014 12:33

YANBU. They should have at least access to free water and wouldn't hurt them to buy a kettle. 5p for cold water is ridiculous. Your company sounds very tight.

flowery · 21/05/2014 12:41

But it depends how much of a pain you want to be with your HR department...

I think this is one of those things it's fine to be a pain about tbh.

Thurlow · 21/05/2014 12:48

I would too, flowery, but every firm is different. I'm guessing, but I imagine a firm that thinks it is fine to charge 5p for a glass of water might not be the nicest firm going Grin

steff13 · 21/05/2014 12:51

If the taps in the toilets provide water suitable for drinking they should be marked as such

Why would you assume the sinks in the restroom don't provide water suitable for drinking?

angelos02 · 21/05/2014 12:52

How do you wash your hands after you've been to the loo?

whois · 21/05/2014 12:53

hat's terrible - so there are no facilities for people to make toast or heat up soup for lunch etc?

It's pretty normal to have a canteen and then no kitchen facilities for large employers. However there are normally water cookers around the office and usually hot drink machine.

Someone said it up thread 'a company who is too mean to provide free tea is too mean to work for'. Word.

We have hot and cold water, coffee, tea, hot chocolate from the machines. Plus a canteen open 8-6 to buy food.