When Did Workplace Water Become More Than Just… Water?
Most workplaces already provide drinking water. There’s probably a kitchen tap, a kettle, perhaps a water cooler or bottled water somewhere in the building. So why are more businesses starting to think differently about workplace hydration?
The simple answer is that expectations have changed.
Just as workplace coffee has moved beyond simply providing something hot and caffeinated, hydration is increasingly becoming about choice, convenience and creating a better overall experience for the people using it.
From providing water to providing choice
Think about what people drink during a typical working day. Someone might want a glass of chilled water in the morning, sparkling water with lunch and hot water for tea in the afternoon. Someone else might simply prefer their drinking water at ambient temperature.
Traditionally, providing all those choices could mean several different solutions around the workplace, a kettle, bottled water, a water cooler, perhaps a fridge stocked with bottles and cans.
Modern workplace hydration solutions can bring many of those choices together in one place, providing options such as chilled, ambient, sparkling and hot water depending on the system selected.
But the important point isn’t the number of options available. It’s understanding what the people within your workplace want and making those choices easy and convenient for them throughout the day.
Creating a simpler refreshment space
There’s another part of the hydration conversation that can sometimes be overlooked: the space itself.
Look around a typical workplace kitchen or breakout area and you may find a kettle, water cooler, fridge, bottles, cans and various appliances all competing for space. Over time, what should be a simple refreshment area can become unnecessarily cluttered.
Bringing more refreshment choices together can help create a cleaner, simpler and more considered environment. For businesses designing a new office, refurbishing an existing space or simply reviewing their current facilities, that can be just as important as the drinks being provided.
After all, the refreshment area is increasingly part of the wider workplace experience. It needs to work well, look good and, most importantly, be easy for people to use.
Could it reduce the need for bottles and cans?
There’s also the question of bottled and canned drinks.
Providing convenient access to filtered chilled and sparkling water can give employees an appealing alternative to reaching for a bottle or can every time they want something other than tap water.
That doesn’t mean bottled and canned drinks will disappear from every workplace, nor does it need to. But where people have easy access to water, they genuinely enjoy drinking, businesses may find there is less reliance on some single-use drinks.
For organisations looking at their workplace refreshment choices more broadly, it’s another factor worth considering.
Hydration as part of the workplace experience
Ultimately, workplace hydration still has one very simple purpose, which is making sure people have easy access to water.
But there is a difference between making water available and thinking about the experience of the people using it.
Choice, convenience and the environment all play their part. When those things come together, something as simple as getting a glass of water can become another small but important part of creating a workplace people enjoy spending time in.
Perhaps, then, the question businesses should be asking isn’t simply:
“Do we provide water?”
Most already do.
It might be:
“Are we providing the choices our people actually want?”
At Complete Refreshment Solutions, we help businesses look at workplace refreshments as a complete experience, from great coffee through to modern workplace hydration.
Whether you’re planning a new workplace, refurbishing an existing refreshment area or simply wondering whether your current solution still meets the needs of your team, we are happy to help.