For those of us working in offices, the workplace is almost as much your home as the place you go to sleep every night. We spend at least eight hours a day in the office, and quite often a whole lot more! Considering you are away from home from morning to night, it’s a good idea to prepare a list of must-haves that you can access at work.

Most of the necessities for office survival can be kept in your desk, but there is more to life than just a stapler and a pack of breath mints. If you are fortunate enough to have access to Lockers, then you can go a few steps further and be extra prepared with enough storage space to contain all the things you need for any contingency. The following is a list of some of the bulkier personal and professional items we think every office employee should have ready to swing into action at the workplace.

Comfortable Shoes

Depending on your office’s corporate culture you might have to wear fancy dress shoes all day, but there’s no need to suffer during the to and fro- slip off your comfy walkers when you arrive at work and put them back on when it’s time to go home! These are also an essential for emergencies, you don’t want to be hurrying down the stairwell fleeing a fire in your high heels!

Extra Sweater or Sweatshirt

In the event of a cold snap these will make the outdoor leg of your commute home much more comfortable. Power failures happen, and if your office loses heating you will be glad to have something warm to slip into. These also come in handy if the boss is stingy with the heat!

Spare Suit

This is a wise choice for a variety of reasons. Suppose your office’s dress code is smart casual, or even casual on certain days, but you suddenly receive notice that the company CEO or other terribly important person is dropping in for a surprise visit. Everyone else might be regretting their “Tropical Fun Day” dress choices, but you can just slip that nice suit on and dress to impress in a flash. If your office has a formal code, but you manage to spill mustard all over your shirt and tie at lunch before an important client meeting, then no problem, the back up is ready to go!

Umbrella

It’s going to rain. You may not know when, but rain will happen at some point, even the most arid deserts get a few inches a year, and rarely at convenient times. If it wasn’t raining out when you left for work it most certainly might be when it’s time to leave, so a spare umbrella is a must have item. Moreover, as the storm clouds gather just before quitting time, you can loan your spare to that hapless co-worker who didn’t bring one that morning!

It’s always best to be prepared!