Is Shoddy Restroom Cleaning Making You Sick?

As we yet again enter peak cold and flu season, the question bears asking. Could shoddy restroom cleaning from your commercial cleaning service be making you, your team and your customers sick? The answer is yes; ineffective, inadequate and incomplete restroom cleaning can in fact spread disease-causing germs. Shared restrooms, because they are so often by so many, present the perfect disease-spreading source if they are not regularly and thoroughly cleaning and disinfected. But the good news is that proper sanitation of your facility’s restroom can cut way back on the transmission on cold, flus and other infectious diseases keeping absenteeism down and morale and productivity up.

Why Dirty Restrooms Help Spread Disease

Dirty restrooms are worse than just gross or unsightly, they spread disease-causing germs making more people sick. Why should restrooms be the foundation of your cleaning plan? First, restrooms see a great deal of use and sink and toilet cleaning matters when it comes to a dirty workplace. All that traffic in and out gets even the cleanest bathroom dirty. Second, not everyone understands the importance of hand washing in reducing the spread of germs and disease. On top of that, many of the people entering the restroom will be ill or carrying germs and bacteria whether they know it or not. Sally’s kid had a stomach bug and while Sally may not be sick yet, she could have bacteria on her things that gets transferred to her hands and then deposited right on the door handle to the restroom. Then Mary opens the door, touched her face, nose or mouth and before you know it, you have higher than usual numbers of absent staff. Bathrooms are integral to a sound cleaning plan in part to because of the large amount of touch points, like door handles, toilet and faucet handles and even germy standing water around hand washing sinks. Sure, you or your commercial cleaning service cannot wipe every door, every time but regular, daily restroom cleaning can stop the cycle of contagion before it gets out of hand.

Why Grubby Restrooms Hurt Your Business

Shoddy restrooms are not just an aesthetic problem, they are a business bottom line problem. There are a variety of ways dirty restrooms in your facility are bound to dampen your bottom line:

• Increased illness & absenteeism
• Higher employee turnover
• Lower reported employee satisfaction
• A less engaged work force
• Lowered productivity and work output from ill employees
• Lowered sales
• Negative customer perceptions of the overall quality of your business
• Negative online reviews from both customers and employees
• Soiled reputation 

Think about it, if an average employee visits the restroom even just three times in any given day, that’s fifteen visits in a wee. If those restrooms look scary and gross, that means fifteen negative impressions of your company your employee has each week just in the bathroom! And human nature tells us that if your employees think you don’t care about the way things look or a level of quality, neither will they. Not only can dirty bathrooms lend the wrong impression about your expectations, they can increase the spread of germs and disease, which then decreases productivity and increases absenteeism. Of course people get sick and no matter how clean your facilities are, this is not going to stop altogether. Yet, poorly maintained restrooms and dirty bathrooms can make the process of spreading flus and colds so efficient and widespread that absenteeism could quickly become a real problem.

Restroom Cleaning in Your Facility Can Boost Your Bottom Line

While poorly maintained restrooms can actually hurt your business, cleaned, sanitized and well maintained bathrooms can be a boon for any business. Think about it, a clean and well maintained facility, including the oft used restrooms, sends the message that you are invested in your business, your team and overall excellence. Employees can come to work in a clean and healthy environment ready to go the distance. Curtailing the spread of germs and disease will mean lowered absenteeism and increased productivity an overall employee satisfaction. On that same note, your customers are likely to notice too as clean facility restrooms will send the message that you care and contribute to an overall positive impression of your business, people and products and services.

Is it Time to Give Your Cleaning Company a Pink Slip?

If your commercial cleaning service is leaving your bathrooms or any other area of your facilities less than fresh, it might be time to consider changing course. A professional, reputable janitorial service already understands that restroom cleaning is the foundation of any sold cleaning plan where health and safety are paramount. What should you look for in a commercial cleaning company to determine if they are up for the task of keeping your restrooms clean and disinfected?

1. The right cleaning company must understand, train and insure cleaning product dwell times. Dwell times are the amount of time cleaning products must sit on a surface before they are wiped off in order to effectively kill germs and reduce the spread of disease.

2. Solid commercial cleaning companies understand that their frontline cleaning employees are the first defense stopping the spread of disease at your facilities. To this end, they will work to find the best employees and train and manage them to get the best from them and insure you get the cleaning and sanitation you and your team deserve.

3. The best commercial cleaning companies don’t think they’ll never make a mistake, rather, they have systems and procedures in place to manage issues in service. They understand how to communicate effectively so that you get the most consistent janitorial service and clean, healthy restrooms.

4. The cream of the crop cleaning services will utilize cleaning industry best practices, including color-coded cleaning cloths to insure that the towel that just wiped down a toilet seat isn’t used to wipe off the mouth piece on your phone.

5. Great commercial maintenance companies also offer transparent pricing, this means that they tell you exactly what you are going to get and what it is going to cost you. Cleaning companies that are transparent with you from the beginning are much more likely to live up to your expectations. Think about it, a company that cannot show you precisely what you are purchasing probably isn’t prepared to do the job and you will have a much harder time holding them accountable when they do not.

Clean restrooms at your facility are important in fighting the spread of disease. When you find a commercial cleaning company that understands how to keep your bathrooms in clean and healthy conditions, you set the tone for the health, safety and bottom line in your facility.