UK office workers are dreading the next heat wave as new figures reveal that two-thirds of bosses fail to provide workplaces suitable for hot weather conditions experienced around the country over recent days and that look set to continue into next week.
A survey of 1,000 workplaces conducted by the UK’s largest online supplier of ironmongery products, Ironmongers Direct, reveals that in 65 percent of offices workers are left feeling more tired by soaring office temperatures. A significant number of respondents also suffered drowsiness (35%), irritability (25%) and found themselves unable to concentrate (17%).
As a result the quality of their work suffers. Over half of office workers (55%) say that they are less productive in a hot work environment and more than one in five (22%) say that they struggle to get any work done.
Top of the list of hot-worker bugbears are office smells (the top complaint for 44% of workers), especially smells from sweaty co-workers.
People also find office environments stuffy and struggle to breathe properly (37%), meaning that many will open windows (67%) or even prop open fire doors (16%) in order to let in fresh air, compromising security and health and safety.
Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “While not every office can have full air-conditioning, bosses can clearly do more to create a comfortable working environment.
“Adapting windows and doors so that they can let in fresh air is a simple measure that can be taken in any office. Especially important are measures to ensure fire doors that are propped open will close in the event of a fire. Simple and cheap door closers can be easily fitted to keep workers comfortable and safe.”
As well as conducting the research, released at the end of last week, IronmongeryDirect has also developed a fun and interactive quiz for office workers to calculate how hot and smelly their office is, in order to raise awareness of this issue. The quiz is available at http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/stink-o-meter