For businesses owners, cold and flu season is particularly troublesome given the effect it can have on your workforce. If your employees are out sick, not only will you be less productive and have more holes to fill, but it also means you’ll be taking a direct hit in the wallet, too.
The flu costs U.S. employers approximately $10.4 billion a year in direct costs for hospitalizations and outpatient visits for adults, and that doesn’t even count the indirect costs of lost productivity or paying others overtime to fill in.
To make matters worse, it doesn’t help that offices and work spaces are breeding grounds for the cold and flu, given the person-to-person interaction in close quarters and poor indoor air circulation.
All this being said, there are steps you can take to minimize the spread of the cold and flu around your workplace and maintain a healthy work environment. It starts with talking to your business’ commercial cleaning service to better understand their cleaning procedures.
Ask them these questions:
1. Are your employees trained to reduce bacterial, viral, and other infectious diseases? Does the cleaning service you use understand the difference between looking clean and actually being clean? Make sure they’re actually eliminating germs and bacteria instead of just wiping away dust and debris.
2. Are they trained to clean all the important touch points (e.g., light switches, door hands, elevator buttons, hand rails, etc.)? One of the reasons the cold and flu spreads around the workplace so easily is that everyone is constantly touching and sharing different things without washing their hands. A good cleaning service will make note of the objects that get touched the most, and make sure they clean them as often as possible. From telephones to computer mice, doorknobs to sink faucets, make sure your cleaning company is cleaning them.
3. Are they using the right cleaners and using them properly? Even if your cleaners are using something that’s supposed to kill 99.9% of germs, if they aren’t using it properly, they won’t be killing all 99.9%. Make sure they’re using the right cleaning products for the job, and make sure they know the proper cleaning directions for them, like letting disinfectants stand for several minutes before wiping it away.
4. Are they cleaning often enough? Though this a question you’ll ultimately have to ask yourself, it’s never a bad idea to increase the cleaning frequency of your workplace during the cold and flu season. The more you can keep things clean and sanitary, the better you can prevent the spread of germs.
In addition to making sure that your cleaning service is doing all that they can for you, there are also several ways for your employees to do their part in making your office cleaner and more sanitary. Teach your employees to follow these simple tips during cold and flu season to help limit the spread of germs and sickness:
• Use disinfecting wipes to wipe down work areas. If you can’t afford a cleaning company to come in every day, provide your employees with disinfecting wipes so they can keep their phones, keyboard, mice, and desk clean when the cleaning crews aren’t around.
• Wash hands after every trip to the bathroom and use hand sanitizer regularly. We can’t stress it enough: hands are the #1 transmitters of germs on the body. If you want to limit the spread of germs, make sure your employees know to keep their hands clean, and make it easy for them by leaving hand sanitizer around the office.
• Don’t let employees come in sick! As much as your employees might want to power through the sickness (in fact, 80% try to), don’t let them come in sick and jeopardize spreading it to everyone else. Set a firm sick policy with your employees, and make sure they stay home when they should—no excuses.
Looking for a commercial cleaning company that has experience keeping workplaces clean and sanitary during the cold and flu season? ServiceMaster by Best is the best in Wichita Kansas.
We’ll do more than just make sure your space looks good; our employees are properly trained to sanitize and disinfect all a workspaces’ problem areas—keeping your employees healthy, and saving your company money in the long run.
Call us today at (316) 413 5750 for a free quote.
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