How to Keep Warm in A Cold Office
Keep Warm in A Cold Office With These 5 Awesome Bits Of Tech
As winter has us under its spell, it can be hard to remember what it felt like not to shiver as we step outside. Luckily for us Aussies, the cold months don’t last long, but sometimes that means we neglect the heating in favour of keeping spaces cool.
Keeping warm in a freezing office is difficult, and while some people will tell you to pile on the layers, drink copious amounts of hot drinks and get on with it, we’re all about finding the best solutions here at Mat Shop.
So, here’s the only list you will ever need to keep warm in a cold office.
1. Mug warmers to keep drinks hot in freezing offices
Just because you’re cold, it doesn’t mean your mug has to be! Keeping hot drinks hot is a comforting and motivating way to stay warm on chilly days, and employees that get to enjoy hot coffee for longer will look forward to coming to work each morning.
Mug warmers are something like a coaster, but much cooler (warmer?). Plug them into the wall or your computer for a permanently warm drink and permanently happy staff.
The best mug warmers will heat up quickly and let you choose how warm to keep your drink. Plus, these are a cost-effective option for every employee.
Our only gripe with mug warmers is that we can’t build a human-sized one! No worries, though, there are loads of other devices for you humans too.
2. Personal heaters for cold employees
For smaller offices without central heating, personal heaters can give employees some much-needed warmth during winter. As well as warming the room, individual heaters let people decide how much what they want – so no more fighting over the thermostat!
You can find small indoor heaters relatively cheap online, but that is where the low cost of this office-heating option ends.
Once you have 20 small heaters plugged into every outlet in the office, you might notice the electricity bills soaring. Electric heaters are expensive to run, and if your office is open plan then you can wave goodbye to any extra budget for the Christmas party.
As well as costing you (and the earth) from their high energy consumption, the hot air given out by electric heaters, especially cheaper ones, can increase feelings of sleepiness and fatigue. So, if you want your workers to stay motivated, personal heaters ain’t it.
3. Underfloor heating to keep your office warm
Stepping out of bed onto a warm floor is uncommon here in Australia, where many of us have tiled floors. But with underfloor heating, even the coldest of floors can be heated and ready for your feet whenever you want.
Underfloor heating is exactly what it says on the tin – heating under the floor. It can be run on either water or electricity and is generally more energy-efficient than central heating. If you’re looking at options, water is generally the cheapest, and it is also better for the environment!
As well as keeping your feet warm, underfloor heating works its way up through the house and keeps rooms warm for as long as it’s on. It sounds like heaven, but it has its downsides too.
Underfloor heating is expensive to install and can take a long time to heat up. For many offices, especially medium or large companies, heating the entire place so that everyone is happy would get very expensive before you’ve even switched it on.
It is also a huge renovation to install anything under the floor, so your whole office might need to be relocated while the building works were on.
4. Keep your feet warm with heated insoles
A combination of the benefits of underfloor heating and personal heaters: individual heated insoles!
Heated insoles are a real thing, and if you’re thinking they sound pretty cosy, you’re so right. Heated insoles usually have a battery so you can recharge them and use them wherever you go.
The downside of heated insoles is that the battery back will also need to go with you wherever you go. That means some styles are pretty clunky while others have external battery packs to strap round your ankle.
Although heated insoles are a great idea (and they are a great idea), we think that the technology just isn’t quite there yet to make them a feasible everyday option. For anyone in a client-facing role, fitting heated insoles into your smart shoes is probably not convenient.
5. Invest in a heat mat to keep feet warm in the office
Luckily for anyone that can’t get underfloor heating, there’s a cheaper alternative that keeps toes just as toasty.
The best method of keeping warm in a freezing office is a heated floor mat. Heat mats can be placed on the floor under a desk or chair and plugged into a socket to provide a warm, soft surface for feet to sit on.
As well as being super-comforting and energy-efficient, heat mats are portable and can easily be moved out the way for summer. Buying a heat mat for each of your employees is a low cost way to keep them comfortable and motivated and super-productive.
If a cost-effective personal foot warmer sounds like something your office could do with, check out our soft-surfaced heat mat for homes and offices.
Keeping warm in a freezing office
There are a few different options for a cold office in winter, but our favourite is the heated floor mat. Not only is it the most cost-effective and useful, but you can also easily fold away your mats when summer comes back around.
For more information about heat mats or any other speciality mats, feel free to reach out to one of our friendly matxperts who will be happy to help.
If you want some more information on keeping your employees comfortable at work, check out our guides to anti-static mats for your computers and standing desk mats for ergonomic workspaces.