How to minimise flu risks in the workplace
As we enter into the cold season we can start to look forward to sipping on a hot chocolate while enjoying an open fire, rugging up in our favourite winter woollies…and of course drowning in dirty tissues and eating 20+ throat lozenges as we tackle the flu.
The flu is the most common reason that employees take leave and this is of course a productivity killer for your business especially when it spreads like wildfire across the office.
There are however ways to protect your office employees from the flu:
Cleaning and disinfecting
The recent coronavirus outbreak showed that cleaning and disinfecting can help prevent the spread of the virus.
Regularly cleaning is of course the most obvious way to prevent the spread of germs in the office. If your current provider is cleaning once a week, ask them to up the frequency for the winter period.
Talk to your commercial cleaner about providing a disinfecting program during the winter months. This will include a focus on disinfecting touch points such as door handles, kitchen cupboards and desks, office supplies and shared furniture. Routine disinfecting is really an effective way to prevent the flu, as good disinfecting kills 90% of germs, including the flu virus.
Getting vaccinated
Make getting the flu vaccination easy for your staff: According to the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) those who get their flu vaccine are 60% less likely to get sick in winter. Flu shots can be easily obtained from the clinic or pharmacy.
Hygiene education
Prevent the spread of germs via education and example: Simple hygiene is really effective in preventing germs spreading and often influenced by the culture of your work place. Is maintaining a clean and tidy environment part of your work culture?
We recommend following the below guidelines:
– Encourage staff to stay home when sick
– Wash hands frequently with hot soapy water
– Provide hand sanitiser
– Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes
– Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue and dispose of tissue straight away
– Avoid close contact with other staff, avoid shaking hands. If unavoidable wash hands straight away
– Keep touch points clean and disinfected-desks, kitchen surfaces & appliances, door handles
– Use your own equipment, avoid co-worker’s phones, desks, equipment
– Maintain a healthy lifestyle, rest, diet and exercise helps to maintain physical and mental health
Why use DryTech Commercial Cleaning
You can expect savings in one or all of the following:
1. Save on Staff Cost
Your staff were not hired to be cleaners. They are not trained to do a good reliable job effectively and efficiently. Utilising your staff to clean can be a waste of time for your staff and money for your business.
When you hire professional commercial services for your business you are freeing up your staff so they can focus on their jobs. You also get the benefit of expert cleaning services in a timely and cost-effective manner.
If your company has an existing cleaning team but you would like to cut costs you may want to consider using a commercial cleaning company on a permanent or semi-permanent arrangement. Most commercial cleaning companies offer attractive deals for long term projects.
2. Grow Productivity
Staff not spending time on cleaning task have more time to focus on their jobs and responsibilities.
If you are a retailer you would not want your shop assistant to be worrying about cleaning the toilets instead of serving the customers. A staff who can concentrate on their jobs is more productive than one who has to multi-task frequently.
3. Have a Better Work Environment
Are your employees distracted, uncomfortable, or sick? Working with a commercial cleaning company means a healthier workplace for your staff. Regular sanitation of high-touch surfaces, like doorknobs, tabletops and walls can reduce risk of infection thereby reducing staff absences and sick leave. Commercial grade vacuuming with HEPA filters removes allergens, dust and debris from the air and carpet so employees can breathe easier.
All these contribute to clean and healthy work environment and ultimately healthier staff with fewer sick leaves and absenteeism.
4. Ensure Staff Safety
Professional commercial cleaning helps you fulfil your employer’s responsibility in providing a safe work environment for your staff. A professionally clean office, factory or shop can minimise the risks of slips, trips and fall accidents. Health and safety requirements could be a consideration for business license or professional accreditation renewals so it is very important to give this some consideration.
Commercial cleaning services keep records of their cleaning schedule which can be provided to the employer to help minimise business liability. Ultimately, your staff and your business will benefit from a cleaner, safer work environment.
5. Save on Unnecessary Expenditure
If you are undertaking the office cleaning yourself, your business will have to invest in equipment (vacuum, mops, dusters, and so forth) and cleaning consumables (cleaning solutions, polish, cloths, brooms, dusters, and so forth).
High quality cleaning equipment and supplies can be expensive for an individual business. Cheaper equipment only result in a slower, poorer quality clean. There may also be incidents where you might require a specific cleaning agent, whether it is a commercial de-scaler or a hospital-grade disinfectant. In these instances time is wasted trying to source these things.
DryTech Commercial Cleaning uses the best equipment and the most effective cleaning solutions to help our clients obtain the highest standard professional cleaning. We cater our cleaning to our client’s specific requests by offering a wide range of services from regular carpet cleaning to complex stain removal and treatment. We also use organic and environmentally-friendly products on request.
6. Save on Property Repairs
Another return on investment from hiring commercial cleaners for your business is that your property will be better cared for, and therefore requires less maintenance, repairs and replacement. Regular commercial carpet steam or dry cleaning can help keep your carpets and furniture in pristine condition.
Professionally cleaned surfaces in humid conditions have less chance of developing mold. Mold in office carpets and furniture is a hazard to your staff health and wellbeing.
Commercial cleaners are effective in public areas like foyers and lifts. The high quality cleaning these companies deliver will also benefit common areas like staff pantry, washrooms and workstations.
In conclusion your company can save money on repairs and replacements of carpet and furnishings if you engage the services of a commercial cleaning company to handle your business’ cleaning requirements.
7. Impress Your Customers
A freshly cleaned shop or office is especially appealing to customers. It shows you care about their customer experience by taking extra care in how your business looks. A professional cleaning company is a ‘trained eye’ to spot all the places that will need special cleaning and detailing. What they do will impress your customers which can result in better sales for your business.
8. Save Your Time
As a business owner you have more important things to do than worry about whether the office or shop has been properly cleaned.
If you hire a commercial cleaning company to do the job for you, you will free up your time to focus on more important activities like growing your brand and making more profits.
DryTech Commercial Cleaning is one of Sydney’s best commercial cleaning companies. For more information about our wide range of services or a free quote call: 02 9161 1621 or email: [email protected]