Often, and we don’t like to think about it in great detail, but some worker’s attitudes and behaviour towards good hygiene practices and breaking unhygienic employee habits can be astounding.
So, astounding in fact, that research into this area has highlighted that the British workforce would like their work environment to be cleaner and slightly more hygienic, yet aren’t 100% confident in how to make this happen!
Which begs the question:
Are we as employers putting the right processes in place and providing the right training, so everyone understands the importance of good hygiene in the workplace?
Educating employees can be of great benefit, as unhygienic workplace habits can negatively affect an employee’s health, productivity, motivation, mental health, behaviour, and the number of sick days business experiences.
For employees putting good cleaning practices in place helps to reduce the chances of experiencing:
- Sick days
- Food poisoning
- Diarrhoea
- Skin conditions
- Colds
- Coughs
- And more.
World-renowned hygiene company SCA looked into and questioned over 1,000 UK employees, gathering evidence and information regarding staff attitude towards workplace hygiene.
The results of their research show that when it comes to people and hygiene, not everyone is considerate of others. The list below highlights the main problem areas faced by employers and employees:
- Coughing without putting your hand over your mouth
- Openly sneezing, thinking that the air will evaporate your germs!
- Not flushing the loo
- Not cleaning your hands properly, or at all, after visiting the toilet
- Not using the correct bins or facilities when disposing of sanitary protection products
- Cluttered and untidy desks
- Full bins
- Leaving dirty dishes in the communal sink or lying around
- Leaving empty toilet tissue rolls in the washroom
- Eating at desks
- Nail-biting
The research also went on to state:
Only 16% of employers offer workplace training on the subject of workplace hygiene.
10% of the people surveyed also felt that poor hygiene in their workplace had negatively affected their health in some capacity.
Over 25% of workers in the UK reported that their colleagues have some seriously unhygienic habits!
Fortunately, Clear Choice can help!
Providing you with a commercial cleaning service that is second to none. With regular cleaning, we help to keep bacteria at bay, improve staff productivity, and keep your office hygienic, always.
No one can afford for staff to be off work for long periods, making the need for action obvious!
Plus, when we delve into office hygiene further, it’s important to note that we can also take these germs home with us, passing the bacteria to our friends and family members!
Commercial Cleaning Bradford
Bacteria and viruses that people can bring back from the bathroom can multiply on hard surfaces such as desks and office chairs, remaining infectious for up to 24 hours if not cleaned properly.
There are also a whopping 21,000 germs per square inch of office equipment/space….
And, it’s reported that an average office desk can hold 10 million bacteria! 400 times more than your average toilet seat!
With a hot-desking culture, don’t you want to have peace of mind that the desk you’re using is hygienically clean?
Poor hygiene at work
Employing the services of a contract cleaner is paramount to maintaining a healthy working environment.
As an employer, think about the loss of revenue you could experience due to an unhygienic workplace.
Processes and policies should be put in place to help inform staff of their responsibilities.
As an employer, you should provide suitable areas for staff to eat lunch, make certain cleaning products available for staff to use, etc. Introduce tidy teams or monitors. Lead by example from the top-down, showing its importance and how serious as a business you take such things.
You could take this one step further again and look into hygiene training sessions, the introduction of washing-up rotas, policies on emptying the dishwasher, and more!
The team at Clear Choice provide a range of cleaning services throughout Bradford to many businesses, as well as help and guidance when needed.
To see how we can help you, call 01132 711432
Read the next article: Getting rid of dust once and for all
