In cold months your body loses water at practically the same speed it would do in the summer (a British summer that is, if you live in the middle of the Sahara things may be a little bit different on that front). Then you have to think about the fact that you may well find yourself feeling lethargic and quite often that can be down to a lack of proper hydration. Drinking more can help you feel more energetic and generally better helping you get through the winter blues and maybe just maybe be able to get out of be in the morning without hitting the snooze button 50 times. Added to which your skin tends to get even more dehydrated in winter than it does in the summer, so drinking plenty of fluids not only makes you feel healthier you will look healthier too. As if you didn’t have enough reasons remember standing around the water cooler can give you some time to procrastinate at work, but you didn’t get that idea from us.

Remember that drinking coffee and tea does not make you dehydrated, the fact is that is an urban myth, they do not hydrate you as well as just water would, but the fact is if you want something to boost your hydration levels but don’t really fancy some nice cool water from your office water coolers then you can get away with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Do you keep finding that you’ve run out of water bottles for your bottled water cooler? There are few things worse in the office than going to get a glass of water to find that there isn’t any left. Running out of bottled water can sometimes mean waiting days for another bottled water delivery .

Did you know plumbed water coolers are cheaper and more eco friendly?

If you keep running out of water bottles maybe it’s time to consider buying or renting plumbed in water cooler. For offices, business waiting rooms and other high water usage environments plumbed in water coolers are cheaper than bottled water cooler because their maintenance costs less than bottled water. You can also avoid the admin involved in ordering bottled water on and ad-hoc basis and receiving invoices with varying costs throughout the year. With plumbed in water coolers it’s common to pay a flat monthly fee for maintenance, filter replacements and call outs should your water cooler breakdown.

Bottling and transporting water has a carbon footprint. Getting bottled water delivered, especially over long distances is bad for the environment. As a eco-friendly company, at Thirsty4Water we recommend plumbed water coolers because they have a smaller carbon footprint than bottled water coolers. But if you are going to continue to use a bottled water cooler we’d recommend finding a local supplier that provides bottled water that is locally sourced water.

The importance of water is well known but often over looked in office environments in favour of hot drinks and vending machines. Staying hydrated is one of the simplest ways to improve health, concentration and well being. It can lead to lower levels of sickness absence and increased mental and physical performance. Caffeinated drinks can worsen the effects of dehydration and negatively effect employee performance unless consumed along side water or other non-caffeinated drinks.

What are the symptoms of dehydration?

Some of the physical symptoms of dehydration include:

• Tiredness
• Light-headedness
• Headaches
• Migrains

Dehydration also effects mental performance and has a wide range of symptoms including:

• Difficulty concentrating
• Reduced alertness
• Shorter attention span
• Poorer information retention

All of the symptoms mentioned above impact on employee performance; it can reduce productivity, cause a poorer standard of work and errors and negatively affect the office ethos.

How can you help employees stay hydrated?

There are many ways to encourage members of staff to regularly drink water but first, it’s important to make sure you’re complying with standards set out by the Health and Safety Executive. The right of access to fresh drinking water is set down in the Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992; specifically it states, 1) there should be an adequate supply of wholesome drinking water, 2) it should be a) readily accessible and b) conspicuous to members of staff and 3) there should be an adequate numbers of cups or drinking vessels except for water fountains etc where drinking water is in a jet.

We recommend that you go above and beyond the regulations set out by the Health and Safety executive to proactively encourage staff to remain dehydrated instead of stopping at the provision of adequate drinking facilities. In many parts of the UK tap water suffers from hardness because of a high mineral content. There are three solutions to provide great tasting, fresh drinking water to members of staff:

• Office water coolers provide fresh cooled, drinking water. There are two types of office water cooler
  • a) plumbed water coolers which are plumbed into the mains water supply and both filter and cool the water,
  • b) bottled water coolers use water from.
• Water softeners and filters can be used to remove minerals and make tap water taste better.
  • a) These can be purchase as standalone water softeners and have tap water poured into them
  • b) water softeners can be plumbed into the mains to filter and soften your water supply.

We recommend using a plumbed water cooler in your office to enjoy a constant supply of fresh drinking water. With bottled water coolers there is always the potential that you’ll run out of water, water filters and softeners can be slow to filter water and using a mains plumbed water softener can be more expensive than a plumbed in water cooler