You may want to hire a cleaning service to make your office more presentable for your customers. However, you may discover that a clean space can provide many great benefits for your employees as well. Here are just a few reasons why a cleaning service could improve your office morale.
Your Employees Will Be Healthier
Although employees are often encouraged to stay home when they are sick, one Robert Half report found that about 33 percent always come to work anyway, and about 57 percent sometimes come in when they are sick.
Why does this happen? There are various causes, but some employees feel they have too much work to do and don’t want to leave their staff empty-handed. Others may not want to use up their paid leave if they want to use it later as vacation days.
Whatever the reason, it is important to maintain a clean environment to minimize the spread of germs.
Your employees already have work to do, so besides tidying desks, you should leave heavy cleaning to professional services. Facilities that rely on consistent high-touch disinfection tend to maintain healthier work environments, and our guide on signs your urgent care needs specialized cleaning explains how overlooked surfaces can impact safety and productivity in any workplace.
Some of the dirtiest places in the office include:
- Phones
- Keyboards
- Microwave door handles
- Sink faucet handles in the bathroom or break room
- Vending machine buttons
- Water fountains
- Handrails and door handles
Have the cleaning service thoroughly disinfect these germy areas, and you’ll cut down on the spread of pathogens in your workspace. Your employees will be healthier and less run-down.
Your Employees Will Avoid Disputes
Because everyone has different personalities and organizational preferences, there’s bound to be the occasional clash over cleanliness in the workplace.
However, organization and cleanliness shouldn’t build to the point of resentment. In a 2010 Robert Half survey, about 44 percent of American workers said that the most annoying behavior in company break rooms is leaving messes for others to clean up.
While companies should have rules and employee training for cleaning guidelines, a cleaning service can simplify the process. If someone else cleans the break rooms, your employees are less likely to feel like they are picking up after others.
A cleaning service can clean the kitchen sink, change paper towel rolls, and empty garbage bins. Employees won’t place the blame on each other because a cleaning service can be in charge of tidying commonly shared areas.
Your Employees Will Be More Productive and Less Stressed
A study conducted by Harvard University found that students in tidy work areas worked 7.5 minutes longer than those who worked in cluttered spaces. Although that amount of time may seem negligible, it can really add up throughout the year with multiple employees.
Any increase in focus can help your employees feel less stressed since they won’t be scrambling to look for papers or other office tools. According to research, untidy workspaces can affect your employees’ mental health.
One study found that the stress hormone cortisol was higher in people whose home environments were cluttered. Elevated cortisol levels can cause a person to experience anxiety and depression. Since workplace stress is costing American businesses up to $190 billion a year in health care costs, a clean workplace is an easy solution to improve your employees’ mental health.
Another study found that improved cleaning practices can reduce workplace absenteeism by up to 46%
A cleaning service can help tidy the office so your employees can focus on the work duties they were hired for. Some cleaning services can shred and recycle old documents that are taking up valuable workspace. These services can clean equipment like printers, monitors, and photocopiers of debris. These services can clean the floors so that employees aren’t slipping or tripping over obstacles.
Reach out to us at Advanced Office Care to learn more about cleaning services and how we can tidy your office so that your employees don’t have to.
