Even with healthy habits like hand washing, sneezing or coughing into your sleeve rather than your hand and even staying home when you are ill, the office can still be a bastion for disease causing germs. There are simply so many people in a confined space, moving about and touching surfaces that others will come into contact with. It offers a perfect recipe for the spread of colds, flus and worse. When the colds and flus that are making the rounds hit your office, unless your commercial office cleaning services is on it, more employees will get sick, getting other employees sick, increasing absenteeism, lowering productivity and bashing your bottom line. Your office cleaners are your best line of defense to stem the spread of seasonal illnesses, minimize transmission of common, easy to spread diseases and keep your facility healthier. Is your office janitorial services doing everything they should be to keep your office environment healthy and reduce the spread of disease?
Thanks to curiosity and research, we know more about the transmission of disease and how to stop it than ever before. Did you know that every minute, a working adult touches more than 25 objects that could be contaminated by germs like bacteria and viruses? According to a recent workplace microbial study, desktop surfaces, computer keyboards, mouse and telephone receivers carry more germs than restroom toilet seats! As commercial office cleaning companies, we should understand cleaning for health, hotspots and touch points and critical cleaning concepts like dwell times. We must train our teams on safe and effective chemical usage and the best practices that we know decrease the spread of disease causing germ. See the ISSA’s Infographic on the real cost of substandard office cleaning. Absenteeism costs businesses more than $225 billion dollars each year and results in as much as a 54% loss in productivity. Bad cleaning isn’t just gross, it’s costing you money.
Touch points are critical in cleaning for health. Is your office cleaning service familiar with them? Touch points and hot spots are areas throughout your building where many hands and fingers come into contact depositing and carrying away disease causing germs. Think phones, computer mouses, door handles, stair railings, business machines and more. Research tells us what common sense infers and that is that these frequently touched are hands down the most germ laden. And if these germy areas are left uncleaned or insufficiently cleaned, they become perfect areas for the transmission of person to person disease. If your office cleaning company is unfamiliar with the importance of touch points or inconsistent about the specific attention they require, your employees are likely to transmit and catch more illnesses, which translates directly into greater absenteeism, lowered productivity, decreased engagement and satisfaction, and even higher attrition. Is your commercial office cleaning company consistently cleaning shared office computers? Do they appropriately disinfect items like handles, mouses and computer equipment that many people share? Effective office cleaning isn’t just about appearances, it’s about what we know is there but cannot see.
No one likes a dirty restroom or unkempt office but beyond unsightly, a poorly cleaned office can make people sick. The association between cleaning and health is a strong one. We know the transmission of germs, viruses and bacteria make people sick. And we know that using appropriate cleaning chemicals properly can reduce or eliminate these germs in the areas they spread most easily and efficiently. A multitude of studies confirm that when office surfaces and hot spots are cleaned properly and frequently, illness-related absenteeism significantly decreases. And with fewer common colds and flus and decreased absenteeism, employee productivity goes up. Add to that the fact that a clean and healthy office increases employee satisfaction, employee engagement and even employee retention. Bottom line is people want to work in a clean, organized, healthy work environment.
The most effective commercial cleaning companies understand cleaning for health. They are familiar with hot spots and touch points. They have a firm grasp on basic disease transmission and the difference between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing. They know that cleaning removes dirt from surfaces while sanitizing reduces the number of organisms down to a safer level. Finally, they know how to apply dwell times and other manufacturer directions to maximize the effectiveness of their cleaning products and most efficiently reduce germ loads throughout your facility. Cleaning for health and the concrete science behind effective cleaning has advanced, and if your commercial cleaning company isn’t keeping up advances, updates and innovation, they are leaving you open to exposure and failing to give you the value and return you deserve from your office cleaning budget. They need to be doing what they can do and you need to do what you can do. What can YOU do? First, partner with an office cleaning company that will do their part to keep your facility healthy. Second, encourage employees to follow best practices with hand washing and cold/flu etiquette. Finally, discourage presenteeism, or the practice of coming in to work sick. When an employee is ill and shows up for work, not only are they going to be less productive, they are very, very likely to get other employees ill in spite of solid cleaning and healthy personal habits.
The single most important component in creating a healthy work environment is the professionalism, responsiveness and effectiveness of your Detroit office cleaning company. Janitorial companies must do their part to keep your facility clean and healthy. At Stathakis, we work with businesses of all types keeping their facilities clean and in ready to work condition. We understand the significance of touch points and cleaning for health. We also know that WHO cleans your office is as important as HOW they clean it. We go well beyond the requirements when it comes to screening and finding the right fit for our customers and we work hard to customize our services to the individual needs of your facility. Can we help you? If you would like to learn how we help Facility Managers just like you with effective janitorial services all while staying on budget, please contact us at (800) 278-1884.
Proudly serving the Southeastern businesses of Ann Arbor, including Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Downriver, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, and Plymouth.