Office cleaners know the facts. The connection between a clean office and healthy employees is quite evident to us. When employees work in a place that’s well-maintained and kept relatively clear of germs, mildews, and other things that make them sick, they are happier employees. They call out sick less frequently. Plus, they spend their time more productively when they are not battling sniffles and coughing all day long.
Without a doubt, sick employees cost you money! Here’s a chart to illustrate the scope of the problem.
As an employer, your question should not be if you need to offer a clean office environment. Instead, you should be asking yourself two important questions:
1. Exactly how dirty is my office?
2. What can I do to restore cleanliness and a healthy environment?
Today, we are setting out to answer those questions for you. Read on.
Do we need office cleaning?
It’s just the right time to look at employee wellness and your office environment. Cold and flu season is rapidly approaching. Making cleanliness a priority sends a clear message to your employees that you care about their well-being and want to give them a safe office environment. Wouldn’t such a message motivate your staff? While they will know that you care, they will also be less likely to catch an illness that keeps them out of work and grinds their work to a halt.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, today I’m illustrating the points about office cleanliness with an awesome infographic that a London based cleaning firm was gracious enough to share with me. It offers some startling statistics and brings to life the importance of regular office cleaning.
Please allow me to summarize some of the key facts contained in this graphic:
📷 Your employees’ desks and keyboards are filthier than a toilet. Their desk telephones are not too far behind. This means that your employees are in direct hand to hand contact with bacteria and germs throughout the entire work day.
📷 Drinking water should be healthful. However, when your water cooler and tap handles are infested with germs, they could actually make people sick.
📷 22% of workers don’t wash their hands regularly. Of course, this can cause infection to spread through your office like a wildfire!
This brings me around to the second question I promised to address today.
How Can You Keep Your Office Clean?
OK. So, now you agree. Your office could use some sanitizing and should recommit to creating a cleaner workplace. But, you might still be wondering how to go about this. You’re busy keeping up with a million details every day to keep your doors open and your staff employed.
Here are some tips, courtesy of our own firsthand office cleaning experience!
Create a “Clean” Culture
Start by creating a “clean” culture in your office. Offer gentle nudges to remind your employees about office cleanliness. Print off small signs to post prominently in locations where employees will see them. Some examples of these are signs that remind them to:
· Wash their hands after using the lavatory.
· Clean up after themselves in the kitchen or breakroom. This includes wiping down the sink, taps, and microwave.
· Use disinfectant wipes on their desktops, telephones, and keyboards at the end of every day.
· Wash their hands before and after they eat their lunch.
You may scoff and think this sounds foolish. These are adults, after all. However, we have already established that they just are not doing these things. For most of your employees, the messages they read every day will begin to sink in over time. These actions will become part of your “clean” culture.
Supply the Tools
You can’t very well expect your employees to bring their own cleaning supplies to the office. Ensure that your staff is equipped with the day to day tools that keep the office clean between visits from your office cleaners. If they don’t have what they need, they can’t very well keep the office tidy.
Here are a few basic cleaning supplies to have on hand for the convenience of your employees.
· Disinfecting wipes
· Tissues
· Hand disinfectant—place one on each desk. Even employees who skip handwashing might be inclined to use this.
· Antibacterial soap for proper handwashing
· Paper towels
Keep these accessible to your employees and they’ll likely get the point and use it as you combine equipping them with these necessary things along with creating that “clean” culture.
Hire Professional Office Cleaners
Don’t expect your employees to be 100% responsible for cleaning. While it’s fair to ask them to keep their desk clean and sneeze into tissues, you can’t expect them to do a quality office cleaning service. Keeping things tidy from day to day is entirely a different matter from a good weekly scrubbing. Your workers don’t have the supplies and skills to do the job properly.
Some of the things that professional cleaners will take on for you are:
· Cleaning and sanitizing the lavatories from top to bottom. This includes cleaning commodes, urinals, sinks, taps, and door handles as well as mopping the bathroom floors. This will eliminate germs from this typically dirty area.
· Hoovering the carpets throughout the building. This will remove allergens such as dust, dander, and mould spores from your carpets and keep employees prone to asthma and allergies at their desks.
· Cleaning up and disinfecting your kitchen or break room area. Service should always include disinfecting tables, wiping down microwaves, sinks, taps, and the outside of the fridge. You should also ask them to mop the floors.
· Clean up of your lobby or reception area, including dusting accent tables, photo frames, hoovering or mopping, and wiping down window sills and door handles. This will help to eliminate dust, dirt, and germs. In addition, it will make a fresh and clean first impression to visitors.
Office cleaning professionals will come in according to schedule and take care of the heavy jobs in a professional and efficient manner. Be it once a week or twice a week, this is not a service to skimp on. Remember, the productivity and well-being of your employees will help your business achieve all its goals.