Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.
Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:
How do you keep office bills down in the summer months?
1. Keep the Temperature Comfortable
We have the benefit of having a small space to heat and cool, but those bills still come, and it’s always nice if that number is small. But at the end of the day, employees are more productive when they aren’t bundled up or sweating through their shirts. In the summer, we keep it cool and keep working. We all know how frustrating it is to be uncomfortable. It’s a perfectly avoidable situation.
– Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media
2. Wear T-Shirts and Shorts
The biggest expense next to rent is HVAC. Porch gives our employees flexibility to dress for their comfort, which generally means no one is boiling in button-up shirts and wool slacks. To enforce it, when I don’t have external meetings, I lead by example and wear my favorite pair of shorts!
3. Rotate Fans Clockwise
During the summer, fans should rotate clockwise. Also, offering more telecommuting opportunities for your staff during the summer helps, as fewer staff members at the office means reduced energy bills. Requesting an energy audit from your provider can also help you find other ways to reduce energy costs.
– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
4. Provide in-Office Beer
We keep a dual-tap kegerator in our company kitchen that is always stocked with high-quality beer. This means that most company “outings” take place in the office, which allows team bonding to happen more often while keeping bar tabs low.
5. Have Summer Fridays
Celebrating “Summer Fridays” — letting your employees work half-day Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day — is a great way to boost morale and job satisfaction while trimming your summertime office cooling hours by 10 percent! Motivated employees will work harder on Friday mornings to ensure they’re ready to go home by lunch, and you’ll save cooling costs without sacrificing workplace productivity.
6. Run a Virtual Company Year-Round
If you run a virtual company year-round, you never have to worry about office bills. Save the money that you might spend on office space, and pass along the savings to your customers. If you can provide the best product and the lowest price, your company will do well.
7. Designate a Day to Work From Home
To save on operational costs, we select a few days each month in the summer that we all work from home. It gives employees the chance to run errands and get personal things done, and we save money on utility bills and other costs since the office is closed.
– Andrew Saladino, Just Bath Vanities
8. Have a Three-Day Office Week
Allow employees to work from home on Mondays and Fridays. It greatly reduces our overall electricity bills during the hot summer months.
– Jeff Wright, Phusion Projects LLC
9. Quote the Oracle
Whenever I read about some company undertaking a cost-cutting program, I know it’s not a company that really knows what costs are about. The really good manager does not wake up in the morning and say “I’m going to cut costs today” any more than he wakes up and decides to start breathing.
