In the summer months, you can reduce costs on energy by minimising use of indoor lighting. This obviously depends on the amount of natural light available in your office or workplace, but longer days can usually ensure that lighting costs are kept to a minimum in the summer. This can be complemented with the installation of LED lighting and low-energy bulbs, which are much cheaper to run than traditional strip lighting.
Ensuring staff properly power down equipment whilst on annual leave, and that all appliances and equipment are not in use over weekends and bank holidays, can also contribute to energy savings.
Whether you’re lucky enough to have nice grounds or a park close by, or there’s a hotel or restaurant nearby that can accommodate, it can be cost-effective to hold meetings outside of the office where possible. Not only will this reduce costs on indoor lighting and energy costs, it also allows for more productive, distraction-free meetings in a fresh environment.
On the other hand, if meetings tend to involve a lot of travel and time out of the office, why not consider investing in software to allow for more time and cost-efficient conference calls. This can save on travel costs and expenses, as well as time taken to travel to meetings.
Keeping your staff hydrated is important, particularly in the warm summer months. As staff may be inclined to drink more to keep cool in this weather, it’s worth considering a plumbed-in water cooler over a bottled cooler. You may find that a mains-fed water dispenser saves money in the longer term.
If you currently manage things like procurement, cleaning and janitorial services in-house, you’ll find a time and cost associated with finding holiday cover or putting policy expectations in place to cover leave periods. However, if you outsource this service, you will find that the external supplier is responsible for arranging cover, dealing with suppliers, delivery, cleaning supplies and so on, allowing you to save time, resources and additional staff costs in this area.