Office heating advice

[Yorkshirecuppa]

Hi all.

If you work in an office, would you expect it to be toasty warm when you get there or do you put the heating on yourself when you arrive?

TIA!

I would love it to be toast warm but in reality not often the case

That's an odd question. Presumably the first person in the building decides whether to turn the heat on? And then the next person turns it on if not on, and so on. I wouldn't "expect" anything tbh. I'd just turn it on if I felt it was needed.

I would expect 1st person to arrive to put the heating on

I'd not expect it to be warm and I'd also not assume I'm allowed to put the heating on. I'd sit there being cold and forcing a smile.

But I have severe anxiety, so probably for the best I only work from home now!

I wouldn't expect the heating to be on overnight just so I can enjoy a toasty office. What a waste of resources. I expect the first person to turn on the lights and the heating.

My question is would you expect the owners of the building to have the heating on a timer so that it's already warm when people or arrive?

First thing I do every morning is open a window. Central heating comes in before we arrive and it's always far too hot - although the temperature drops through the day as we go in and out.

If I'm first in I have to put the heating on in the actual offices. The 'public area' radiators are on a timer so the foyer is generally warm but the offices run on one of those air con systems where you can heat/cool etc and they have to go on manually. Small business (less than 50 people across all roles, total office inhabitants 14) so first one tends to do everyone's offices heating in this weather so if you are a later starter (also me on occasion it varies) then you come in to warm.

First in turns the heating on, last out turns it off. Terrible for the environment to be heating it when it’s empty.

I used to work in Estates Management although it was 35+ years ago so workplace rules could easily have changed since then.

Back then the workplace had to be at temperature within a set time of work commencing, can't be sure but I think it was 30-minutes so if (for instance) the office opened at 8AM, it needed to be up to temp by 8:30AM.
Also there was a maximum temperature of 18degC that a workplace could be heated to. Countless times we had people ring up saying they were cold, we would ask the temperature and if it was over 18degC there was nothing we could do.
Minimum allowable office temp was 16degC.🥶

There was never an upper temperature for summer heat, as long as the heat wasn't caused by the heating system then you could happily melt!🥵

Huge office so it's all done centrally and unless there's a fault, it's warm from about 7am.

I wouldn't expect it to be toasty warm, that to me would be too hot an environment to work in but I would expect the heating to have come on around an hour or so before the first person arrived and be warm enough not to be sitting there shivering in a coat.

Ours is on a timer to come on at 8.30 as we officially start at 9. Think that's fair.

No, probably not. I'd expect whoever got in first to turn the heating on. Thats what we do where I work.

No I wouldn't.

It's January, I don't expect to become toasty warm on arrival.

I put the heating on, get on with what I need to do and remove my coat when the office heats up.

No because, inevitably, someone like @SpanThatWorld will come in an open all the windows. It's much more reasonable that people who work in the office will adjust temperature to suit when they get in.

I programmed the heating to come on 30m before the first member of staff on Monday and to be on all week.

Cost £6 a month, saved about 20m winging per staff member per day.

Then no. I wouldn't.

I would not expect a workplace to be particularly cold upon arrival.

The exception would be a very small business where, let's say 2 employees worked in a room and the first one in could switch the heating on.

No, it would be wasteful to have the office heated to full temperature before anyone got there

I assume at my work it's in a timer as it warms up during the monring

I work in a University so the heating is controlled centrally. Our office was 15.2 degrees when I arrived yesterday and never got above 19 all day!

No First person in turns the heating on.

Ours is on a timer so will be warm when everyone arrives. I immediately open the window as it’s too stuffy.

I think it should be on a timer so that the office is warm when the majority of people arrive. Ours is.

Yes. I would expect to come in and it be at a suitable temperature for the work, so at least 18C if I was expecting to sit still at a desk. Otherwise it could be freezing all morning, if it gets very cold overnight. Surely a timer isn’t expensive? And can be used to turn the heating off later so it starts to cool down before people leave. That way you won’t spend more, just time shift it.