As we move into the year’s warmer months, an ‘office spring clean’ will be undertaken by many companies, with employees themselves often being encouraged to eliminate dirt from the nooks and crannies around the office which rarely get any attention. But should this ritual be restricted to once every few months, or should you invest in regular office cleaning by professionals? This answer will largely depend on the size of your office and your business’s needs.
London offices
In London, space is at a premium, and it may be that your office is compact and simply consists of a few desks and chairs, with kitchen and bathroom facilities that you share with other businesses in the building. In this case, a deep clean of your office every couple of months should be enough, as professional cleaning of the shared spaces will likely be included in your rent. But if your office is larger, perhaps with many different rooms and a sizeable workforce, a spring clean won’t be enough to keep it looking spick and span. You should consider professional cleaning in order to boost business – a clean office can mean harder-working employees, fewer sick days, an improved impression on visitors and overall, higher profits.
Increased cleanliness, increased profits
In 2005, a study named Office Cleanliness Monitor was one of the first comprehensive pieces of research to closely look at the link between the cleanliness of an office environment and its effectiveness as a work space. Over half of office workers wholeheartedly agreed that productivity is promoted by a clean office, but among the most alarming results was that 78% of employees based in offices directly link their own sick days with bugs caught from colleagues.
Over the decade since the study, the undeniable health benefits of a regularly cleaned office have been underlined time and again. And this safeguard against sickness should be at the forefront of the minds of business owners that might be dealing with more days of absence than they would like – every time an employee is ill, you’re losing money.
Your staff members will likely spend more hours awake at work than they do at home. Ensuring their working environment is kept clean and tidy at all times lends itself to improved focus thanks to less clutter, and a more professional and industrious attitude, because remember – your office is a reflection of your values as a company. Maintaining a regularly tidied and cleaned space demonstrates not only care for your employees’ health, but the level of the standards you wish your workforce to adhere to. This should again promote them to work harder.
Employee relations
The recruitment firm Adecco found that nearly 60% of employees judge co-workers on the cleanliness of their personal area. Some 40% judged their co-workers more negatively if their desks are seen to be messy, and 45% think more positively of a colleague if their work space is tidy. Read about the research here (http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2012/03/21/employees-judged-by-office-cleanliness.html).
What does this boil down to? It means that you remove the potential for office tension by taking cleaning and tidying out of your employees’ hands. Not only will this encourage a more harmonious environment and less backbiting, it will also provide them with more time to focus on more pressing tasks that will ultimately drive the bottom line.
London business owners and administrators have so much on their plate in today’s ultra competitive markets that cleaning can sometimes fall down the priority list. It is only when you weigh up the facts that the improved profits offered by an intensified cleaning programme become clear.
