An office is a funny place. Full of deadlines, friendships, phone calls, meetings, eating, drinking – the lot! As a commercial cleaning company with over 15 years’ experience in providing the best quality office cleaning services to Greater Manchester, we know the ins and outs of offices from 10 to 100 staff strong. We also know the importance of maintaining a clean and hygienic workplace. A sanitised office is proven to support the wellbeing and productivity of your employees, not to mention presenting a functional and professional site for visitors. With that said, thousands of offices around the UK are plagued by their inhabitants’ bad hygiene habits in the workplace. We want to share 5 of the most common with you today.
The “Forgotten” Food in the Office Fridge
The bruised banana that has started to ooze, the milk that was never finished and never thrown, the chicken sandwich that was never claimed, and things that were questionable in the first place but a week on have only doubled in the strength of smell; the office fridge is home to a great many sins where food and drink has been forgotten – intentionally or otherwise. With no one wanting to claim ownership, things get worse until there are some serious bacterial issues being let loose.
Eating at Your Desk
For any business, it is far better to be busy than to be bored. When we are busy, it is important to get fuel from snacks and a good lunch. However, when you or your employees are snacking or taking lunch at the office desk, it is inevitable that crumbs and spillages will happen. Without a regular office cleaning service, these bits of food are a feeding ground for bacteria and in the worst cases, flies and ants. It is well documented that a keyboard holds far more bacteria than a toilet seat – in fact it is something that we have looked at in a previous blog. It’s unsurprising then, that eating at your desk has made it onto our top 5 office hygiene offences list!
Sneezing Without a Tissue
Catch it; bin it; kill it.
We have all seen the posters and the TV advertisements projecting the importance of sneezing into a tissue in order to prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria. In an office environment, this is the truth tenfold. Every year around this time, the office flu makes an appearance. Whether it catches a few people or has a total wipe-out effect is down to the ones who have it. By missing a tissue when we sneeze, we facilitate the spread of flu and bacteria which is so easily passed on in an office. An office cleaning service will certainly slow and even stop the spread, but additionally, best practice is to do as we are told and catch it; bin it; kill it.
Not Emptying the Office Bins
Our guess is that if your workplace doesn’t have an office cleaning contract then you and your employees are probably guilty of ignoring a full-to-burst bin. Also probable is that pushing the contents down as much as possible is common practice until an overflow bin bag is necessary. Out of busyness, frustration of always being the one to do it, or out of habit, not emptying the office bin is one of the worst offences for workplace hygiene. Taking the phrase we mentioned in the point above – the bin it and kill it part only works when the bin bags are replaced as necessary, otherwise they become a home for a growing hoard of bacteria!
Leaving Dirty Dishes in the Communal Area
Like dominos, it only takes one person to fall into this communal area bad habit to knock down the rest of the office. Suddenly one unwashed plate becomes a stack of ten, and when the dishwashing area is full, the mess (and potentially harmful bacteria!) spreads to the counters until one poor soul must take time out of their busy schedule to sort it out. Alongside the overflowing bins, leaving dirty dishes around is one of the most frustrating problems for offices without an office cleaning contract.
Do any of these sound familiar? It doesn’t need to be this way. An office cleaning contract with Focus Cleaning ensures a regular, thorough and professional clean for your workplace. You can bet you and your colleagues will notice a huge difference, both to office productivity and positivity. Get in touch with our team of expert cleaners today!
