A recent study has revealed what employees think about the cleanliness of their office space. The study was undertaken by Regus, providers of serviced offices across the globe and surveyed more than 44,000 employees in offices from 100 countries. found that the “weakest link” with regards to cleanliness in commercial offices was the meeting room.
You may be mistaken in thinking that the dirtiest place in an office was the break out or kitchen areas, but in fact the one place that employees feel should be cleaner is in fact the meeting room. The main reason is the negative impression it leaves for clients and the UK seems to be below average when compared globally.
The graph of results shows a selection of 15 countries from the survey. With the global average of 36% of employees not happy with the cleanliness of their offices, the UK was below average with 38% closely followed by Hong Kong with 39%.
Workers are understandably fussy about their working environment and the need to make a good impression to any potential and current clients is paramount. Almost a third (29%) of the global workforce complained and say that there current meeting room space is “shabby to customers and show them up which is quite high when you take into account the size of some corporate business.
Other key findings surrounding the meeting room include (global averages):
- 27% believe that the projector or other meeting room facilities are unreliable
- 34% say that their meeting rooms are often uncomfortably hot or cold
- 35% complain that their meeting room is too small
John Wright, Chief Executive Office of Regus Asia-Pacific commented on the findings:
“In highly competitive business environments first impressions can often make a real difference. It is therefore no surprise that more than a third of global business people are worried about the state of their meeting room spaces, and are often embarrassed by dirtiness or a lack of maintenance and care,”
He also added “Too many businesses underestimate the importance of conducting meetings from a professional, smart and clean environment. A home office or a meeting room littered with left over cutlery just isn’t up to scratch. Successful businesses, whether small or large, operate to a high standard at all times, and when it comes to meeting rooms this is no different. As well as being private and secure, meeting rooms must offer a professional image. If this environment is not always available within the main office, businesses urgently need to look into alternative meeting locations.”
In previous posts, we have talked about how the cleanliness of an office can increase productivity, reduce sick days taken by employees and even boost business. With these findings we can also see that by maintaining a spotless office can increase employees pride and confidence in the company.
If you feel that your office could benefit from a professional cleaning company with a passion for helping businesses maintain an extremely high standard of cleanliness, then get in touch now for a free quote.
