I was horrified to learn that sickness absence in the UK costs employers some £29 billion per annum. A contributing factor to those absences is workplace hygiene.
It is estimated that the average computer keyboard is home to 16 million microbes. That equates to 3,295 microbes per square inch. By a toilet seat will carry just 49 microbes. That means there are a lot of dirty keyboards out there.
Some 11% of employees admitted to never cleaning their keyboards and only 3% of offices are thought to sufficiently clean their equipment. Germs that lead to colds can survive for up to 72 hours on dirty equipment. More worryingly, serious microbes such as MRSA can last several months in these conditions.
The crunch is that 80% of infections are spread by contact with infected surfaces on workplace equipment. If employers simply allow these germs to spread they find themselves with staff off sick. That means lost sales or production, having to pay sickness pay and possibly needing to employ temporary staff to cover absences.
Which all adds up to the business losing money.
Simple steps can be taken to improve office hygiene, such as introducing a no food at your desk policy, providing sanitising wipes and gel and encouraging regular cleaning of desktops and equipment.
However, another sensible and reliable solution is to hire a professional cleaning company to regularly come in and clean your workplace. You can see it as an investment as you will be cutting sickness absences, so saving the business money.
If you are serious about hygiene in your workplace, give me a call on 01452 886288 to discuss how we can help your business save money whilst improving the health of you and your staff.