Everyone prefers a workplace that looks clean and smells fresh but even more important, the areas we cannot see must be clean. Communicable diseases like colds, the flu, gastrointestinal upsets are the most common causes of intermittent employee absences. In the U.S. common communicable diseases account for more than 7 sick days per employee annually. Routine cleaning and proper disinfection practices can keep your teams healthy, your absenteeism down and reduce turnover which all have a direct impact on your bottom line.
When we try to avoid and prepare for infectious diseases, there is a great deal to worry about. Infections diseases like cold, flus, stomach viruses, MRSA, Norovirus, Enterovirus D68, CDifficile, CRE and even Ebola are concerning. It is easy to see that the combined economic costs and the very real toll on the people that get sick is substantial. A clean facility where cleaning for health is paramount offers our best defense against the transmission of infectious diseases and environmental pathogens in the workplace.
The Real Cost of Germs & Insufficient Commercial Cleaning
Many of us would like to hope that employee illness and absenteeism don’t have that big an impact on the bottom line. Or perhaps we tell ourselves it’s just a cost of business that we must make room for. While we cannot totally eliminate sick workers, employee absenteeism and even turnover, cleaning for health and minimizing the risk of a dirty workplace can reduce the instances of all three factors thereby reducing their negative impact on profits and productivity. It is estimated that in the U.S. alone, employee absenteeism costs employers $225.8 billion annually. On top of hard costs, unplanned absences also result in decreased overall productivity and dips in sales and service. The reality is that sick people don’t operate at their best and teams don’t perform as well without all their team members.
A Clean Workplace Benefits Employees, Customers & Profits
Although some of us might focus on clean environments for the benefit of our customers, a clean workplace offers a number of advantages all around from the intrinsic harder to measure benefits to the solid numbers. A dirty, germy facility can have take a dramatic toll on company’s productivity. On the other hand, a clean and well maintained facility can prevent the transmission of infectious diseases and protect the health of every person who comes in and out of your facility. What can a clean building do for you? Well maintained facilities can result in asset preservation, improved indoor air quality, decreased absenteeism, reduced employee turnover, enhanced safety and health, and increased productivity of workers and/or students.
Insufficient cleaning that amplifies the spread of disease-causing germs reduces customer satisfaction, raises employee absenteeism, creates employee dissatisfaction, reduces employee engagement and can increases employee attrition. Even a modest investment in effective commercial cleaning and a cleaning for health program can go a long way in reducing the health and economic impacts of infectious diseases in your facility and beyond.
Why Routine Cleaning & Cleaning For Health Are the Best Defense Against the Spread of Disease
Routine cleaning helps set the tone for the expectations of clean in your facility. It conveys your commitment to your employees and their well being. Routine cleaning also makes it far easier to clean for health. Cleaning for health and proper disinfection practices are recommended to help prevent the spread of various infectious diseases such as the common cold and flu.
Just getting your facility to look clean is not enough, it has to actually be clean and free of germs. Cleaning removes dirt, soil, and surface gunk that offer a great place for germs and viruses like influenza to hang out. Routine cleaning, therefore, is a critical first component in reducing the spread of flu and other diseases. Cleaning for health and disinfecting oft used surfaces, hot spots and touch points actually kills the remaining germs, such as influenza viruses. Routine cleaning & cleaning for health offer a one-two punch knocking disease causing germs out.
Effective Cleaning For Health Involves More Than You Might Think
Effective cleaning for health needs to hit high marks in several different areas to be truly effective in stemming the spread of infectious diseases. Your commercial cleaning company must use the right disinfectants for the job. They should insure that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the product for the environmental pathogen of concern. Additionally, since all disinfectants have dwell times (the amount of minutes a product must remain wet on the surface to properly disinfect), cleaning employees must be well trained in both how to clean and how the cleaning products they use work most effectively. Routine cleaning removes dirt and soil and then disinfecting kills the remaining environmental pathogens.
Beyond quality products used correctly, front line cleaners must understand where their cleaning will have the biggest impact in reducing the spread of disease-causing pathogens. This means that the proper cleaning and disinfecting of environmental surfaces, including high-touch surfaces like desks, countertops, faucet handles, and doorknobs must get regular attention in order to reduce the number of environmental pathogens on those surfaces or objects to a safe level.
Cleaning For Health & the Issue of Cross Contamination
Cross contamination and cleaning for health are important in any business or facility. Cross contamination is when bacteria and pathogens are exchanged between people, food, surfaces and equipment. These bacteria, germs and viruses can cause set off both minor and more serious illnesses. Of course, cross contamination poses the most serious threat in the food and healthcare industries, and yet, in any communal, shared spaces, threats of cross contamination must be considered. In hospital and healthcare environments, there are simply more sick people, who often have infectious diseases. Adding to that, there are also more people who are already sick, injured or in some way health compromised and therefore less able to fight off communicable diseases.
Can Cross Contamination Impact Your Bottom Line?
Cross contamination is a risk in any facility or businesses that see an influx of people day to day. The math is simple: greater numbers of people mean more germs to spread. Whether you manage a school, hotels, manufacturing plant, industrial building, or any other facility that sees many people each day, cross-contamination can make employees and visitors sick and cost companies billions of dollars every year.
Protect Your Profits & Your Reputation
Whether manage a factory, a school, a retail center, an office building, a hospital or business center, the value and impact of a clean facility goes beyond appearance. There are predictable positive business outcomes when your facility is routinely cleaned and cleaned for health. Cleaning for infection prevention protects your profits, your assets and your valuable reputation.
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