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!

Yes I would expect to arrive and it be a reasonable temperature to work in, so 18 degrees or thereabouts

I would expect the heating/ air in to be on a timer and I wouldn’t expect it to be toasty warm - 19 degrees is a good compromise, you can always throw on a jumper if your a bit chilly. It’s no joke having a hot flush in a warm office

For office work the health and safety guidance is a minimum of 16C apparently.

18 or 19 degrees is far too cold for an office, where it's a big space and you're sitting all day. You'd be freezing even in layers.

On the whole I prefer to be too cold than hot. But if it's so cold that my fingers won't type properly, I would walk out.

I used to run a children's activity where we hired school premises. I used to arrive half an hour before all the staff to turn the heating on so it was warm for when they arrived.

Depends on the size of the office and the working pattern.

6 people all on flexi/hybrid working - first person in puts it on. Otherwise some days you might be heating an empty office.

40 people in an open plan office with standard hours - time it to come on before the majority arrive.

@Yorkshirecuppa health and safety at work act 1974 does not state a minimum but The Approved Code of Practice suggests that the minimum temperature in an office should be 16°C, or 13°C if the work is physically demanding.

Not possible in our office to be on in advance. Heating system (in ceiling air conditioners) don't have timer facilities, so the first person is turns them on, but my office is kept locked, so it's off in my room when I get here.

My office was absolutely freezing this morning (bloody draughty window), but I put it on when I came in and have a blanket on my chair to use when it's particularly cold.

I have a pair of turtle dove gloves to keep the chill off my hands too.

The only time I didn't come in to a warm building was when I worked temporarily in a portacabin and we had to put the heating on ourselves. It was miserable for the entire morning during the winter months. Everywhere else I've worked the building is heated all the time (we have shift workers) but I've always worked for large organisations and I would expect it to be 21-23C ideally in offices (our labs are kept cooler but if you've got a labcoat on and are moving about then you want it cooler). 19C is too cold for comfort in an office where you are sitting the whole time, that's the temperature we have at home and I need a blanket over my knees and two jumpers on.

I would expect the heating to be on a theemostat at a healthy temperature between 19-21 degrees so that sitting at the desk and working is comfortable.

Heating has broken where I work. Temperature was 15.5 degrees the other day. People are coming in wearing hats and fingerless gloves. There was a delivery of oil fired radiators this week which might warm it up a bit.

It depends whether it's a one-man-band type of operation or a corporate employer. I would expect corporates to do the legal minimum and have a process in place, whether it's automated or manual, for ensuring that the office is at the required temperature. For a tiny micro company, I would expect that whoever arrives first turns the heating on, and would hope this would be communicated to all employees when they first joined.

Depends on the temperature. I had an office once that had broken heating so it was 10 deg on arrival if the heaters had been put on a few hours earlier. In those situations I think the office should be heated prior to arrival.
Similarly my lab often is 9-12 degrees in winter and we need it to be at least 17 degrees for it to be useable otherwise things that should be liquids are frozen. It's down those that run the building to keep it at a useable temperature otherwise we get our fee for the days hire back

A few degrees below what would be preferred I think that's down to the occupants.

There are 7 of us in the office and we all tend to open the window if we're first in.

It's a repurposed building waiting for a refurb and temperature control is not a strength.

It wasn't a personal attack. I am just saying that there will always be someone who thinks it's too hot and someone who thinks it's too cold which is why, rather than setting a central timer or any form of estate-managed system, it is better if people who work at the office actually have independent control of the temperature.

Indeed.

The centrally controlled central heating has my office like an oven and offices at the back are positively arctic.

I would expect the Company to have the heating set to around 18-19 degrees C, and to have it on a timer.
This might seem too cool for some, but one can always bring in a long cardigan or an extra jumper or sweatshirt if it’s likely to be too cold for you.
However, for people like me, if I’m dressed in a perfectly nice autumn or spring-weight dress, I can’t take it off if I’m too hot - which is normally exacerbated by someone who is feeling cold (because they are wearing summer clothes and no tights) turning the heat up to 20+ “to warm the office up” and then not turning it down again once the office is “Toasty-Warm”…

A timer and a thermostat would be reasonable, after all they're not expensive and probably pay for themselves in no time because there's no risk of the heating being accidentally left on over the weekend or burst pipes if there's a sudden cold snap while the office is unoccupied.

But it depends on the type of office. If it's an actual building, then a modern heating system is a reasonable expectation. But even if you work in a portakabin on a construction site, a basic timer unit is reasonable.

Why?

I'd expect it on a timer given the legal obligations someone else has mentioned.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday my heater is switched on by the lovely cleaner, the days she doesn't work I have to turn it on when I get in.

But, I work in an office within a freezing cold factory, so I am only warm when sitting on top of my blow heater anyway.

I wear a cold all day, every day inside, from October to March.

There are minimum temperatures in offices, Google it. We all walked out one day as it hadn't reached minimum required. It was nice and warm every Monday after.