The average desk contains up to 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. This fact should be enough to make you think about office hygiene and how important it is. Good office hygiene is beneficial from a personal and professional point of view. Think about it, if you’re office is filled with bacteria then illnesses have a greater potential to spread among co-workers. This means that an employee taking a sick day could become several employees taking sick days, lowering productivity, revenue and morale.
In offices where staff share resources such as computers or phones, office hygiene is crucial for their health and well-being. While this responsibility should be shared among all staff, there are a number of ways to keep on top of office hygiene. Below are three office hygiene tips that could be used in your workplace to prevent the spread of illness, sick days and maintain a professional and safe working environment.
1. Wash your hands upon arrival
When you get to work your hands may look clean but the chances are they’re not. If you take public transport to work, then you’ll have definitely come into contact with some bacteria en route. For example, holding onto a rail on the train which has been touched by countless others. Driving doesn’t make much difference. The average steering wheel has 4 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. As a result, the first step to office hygiene is washing your hands upon arrival, minimising the potential spread of bacteria.
2. Keep dispensers well stocked
As well as having frequent reminders in the restrooms regarding hand washing, make sure that all soap dispensers are regularly refilled. It’s also a good idea to have a diagram displayed at the sinks, depicting the correct way to wash your hands. While you might think hand-washing is common practise, a recent study revealed the opposite. 99% of people interviewed at a service station in the UK claimed to have washed their hands after using the restrooms. However, recording devices found that only 32% of men and 64% of women actually did. Don’t take others’ hygiene as a given. Encourage employees to think about their hygiene at work and keep dispensers and paper towel rolls well stocked.
3. Call in sick
If you are unwell with flu-like symptoms, or an upset stomach, then you should take some responsibility and call in sick. This goes for employers as well. If you notice an employee who is ill then having a chat about what’s wrong could be the difference between one staff member being absent and several. When you consider that sickness costs British businesses £77 billion annually in lost productivity, keeping your office bacteria free and healthy is actually beneficial to your business’ success.
In conclusion, workplace hygiene is extremely important for employee health and productivity. It’s easy to forget about bacteria because you can’t see it, but beware – it’s there. A final tip is that you assume everyone else is practicing poor hygiene. This will make you conscious and more likely to keep your part of the office clean.
