A clean workplace gives employees a healthy working environment, while helping your business to run more efficiently, but not every company recognises the importance of maintaining basic hygiene and cleanliness standards.
A study of 1,500 UK office workers revealed 72% felt working in dirty surroundings was making them less productive. Leftover food, cluttered desks and wastepaper are among the most common problems, leading to a messy and unhygienic workspace.
Importance of workplace cleanliness
Studies have suggested a clean workplace is likely to increase the motivation, productivity and professionalism of employees.
Working in a cluttered office, with documents piled high on desks, means you’re less likely to find the things you need quickly. This environment can significantly impact mental wellbeing too.
A poll of 300 companies revealed 46% of workers took a longer lunch break to spend less time in the office because they didn’t like the messy environment.
Unfortunately, it becomes a vicious circle, because once the desks become messy, this can deflate everyone’s mood, which impacts overall productivity. Employees feel less like decluttering and the cycle continues, making it impossible to even wipe the desks under a growing mound of paperwork.
A messy workspace also creates more tripping hazards, while a build-up of dust can impact the function of technology such as computers.
Dangers of bacteria
A clean workplace is a safe workplace, and scientists say when an office desk isn’t cleaned regularly, it harbours bacteria. The worst cases have found ten million bacteria lurking on a filthy desk, harbouring 400 times more germs than an average toilet seat!
Other issues that impact hygiene at work include leaving dirty cups and plates in the washing-up bowl and not wiping up spilled beverages. Leaving food and dirty plates around, or not emptying bins often enough, can attract insects and mice, so it’s far more hazardous than simply breeding bacteria.
Areas where high bacterial counts can lurk include computer keyboards, lift buttons, banister rails, door handles and phones. If employees have come into work with a virus, such as a heavy cold, bacteria can spread via anything they have touched or sneezed on, spreading to colleagues if cleaning is inadequate.
Maintaining safety at work
The management of health and safety at work isn’t just about recognising obvious hazards, such as slipping and tripping risks. It includes spending time and resources to maintain a clean workplace and create lasting benefits for your company and staff.
A virus can spread around an office much faster than you might think. When numerous people touch equipment and surfaces, the associated bacteria can last up to three days if cleaning doesn’t take place.
Any bacteria on work surfaces lasts longer than airborne viruses. A study by the University of Arizona found traces of bacteria on just one office door handle led to the virus being detected on 60% of employees.
Cleaning surfaces with disinfectant wipes and practicing generally good hygiene can reduce the spread of a virus by between 80% and 99%.
Benefits of office cleaning
Office cleaning reduces distractions, such as dirty windows or carpets that haven’t been vacuumed for several days. Even the smallest thing can catch an employee’s attention and distract them from the task in hand. This means they’re not concentrating fully on their job.
According to the Brother Performance and Productivity survey, a quarter of office workers say their colleague’s untidy desk impacts their own performance.
If you’re drowning in a sea of paperwork, you’ll waste too much time looking for things you’ve misplaced.
In addition, if clients or members of the public visit your office, it creates a negative impression if the waste bins are overflowing, or the windows are dirty.
Workplace cleaning solutions
Employees have enough to do during their working day without worrying about trying to clean their office too.
Being based in a serviced office has the added advantage of all the cleaning being done by professionals as part of the package. This is in sharp contrast to leasing traditional office space, where businesses must organise cleaning and bear the costs themselves.
At BE Offices, our in-house cleaning company ensures a safe and clean workplace at all times. As the leading serviced office in London, unlike other providers, we employ our cleaners directly and don’t subcontract to a third party. It’s far too important for this.
Our complete cleaning operation is part of our group of companies, which means we can specify the cleaning standards that we expect, and our clients require. We carry out more than 150,000 cleaning hours per year, because we don’t need to stick to a monthly budgeted external contract. By investing in top-class equipment, we ensure our specialists can complete their task to a very high standard.
Our offices are deep-cleaned prior to clients moving in and we focus on multi-use spaces and break-out areas as a matter of course. We can also complete any special cleaning needs that clients request – all you have to do is contact your centre team to let us know.
As an Accredited SafeContractor, we’ve achieved this status following an assessment of our health and safety standards.
We deliver constant daytime cleaning in addition to night operations, making us unique for a business of our size. This continual work means we can maintain our high standards to ensure your workspace is spotless 24/7.
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