Covid-19 has prevented many of us from working together in person and we long the peace and community bond of working again in the office, away from home distractions, but with the assurance of the hygiene that our own homes give us. How do you, as a business owner, offer a home-like clean environment to your staff? And what are your top concerns around this issue?
66% (1) of organizations expect more than half their staff to return to offices full-time or part-time. Even before the pandemic, employee illness accounted for billions of dollars lost: Just the seasonal flu alone costs the United States more than $10 billion (2) annually.
•How does cleaning and hygiene impact staff’s health and productivity?
•Business disruptions you might face due to staff being sick?
•Clients and customers who may not feel confident to come to your premises?
•Possible closures due to high infection rate in your premises or building?
•The impact this may have on your bottom line?
•The stress from the pandemic impacting you as a business owner?
If these thoughts trouble you, it’s time to adopt elevated hygiene protocols. But how do you conduct a thorough cleaning? How can you ensure a time- and cost-effective method of disinfecting of communal and frequently used areas like the office pantry?
1. What makes your hygiene practices effective and trustworthy
•The fastest and easiest way to do this is to partner with a credible and trusted brand in hygiene, a partner who supports you on all the critical procedures and products used for cleaning and disinfecting, within your given time and requirement.
•The products used should be safe, and effective against the broadest range of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and spores. Lysol's unique antiseptic liquid formula is proven to kill 99.9%* of bacteria and viruses on surfaces that you come into frequent use with.
•Design a master plan for what and when to clean and disinfect: Draw up a time- table with use and dosage for different cleaning products.
•Train cleaners to understand the science behind cleaning and disinfection to gain optimal cleaning performance.
2. A little training goes a long way!
•In the new normal, your cleaning staff needs to be armed with the facts about how to prevent the spread of germs. With a high turnover of cleaning staff, we understand this can be a pain point. Here’s how we suggest simplifying it:
•Design a schedule for how and when to clean frequently touched surfaces and common areas, especially when handling waste disposal, and common areas such as the doors, lifts and meeting rooms in the office building. A 5-minute daily morning review routine with cleaning staff helps them to understand this better.
•Provide employees with access to safe disinfectants and visual guidelines for how and when to use them appropriately.
•Use products that don’t require complicated usage training.
•Define the correct quantities of products to be used in cleaning each area to ensure optimal results.
3. Visual reminders help to keep everyone in line with good hygiene standards!
•Have guidelines in place on mask and glove wearing. Also, post signs throughout your premises on how and when to wash hands, and about social distancing. It’s reassuring to both staff and visitors when there is a signage indicating that you have protocols and recognized products in place.
•When business owners leverage on such best practices, they can not only better ensure customer loyalty and goodwill, but also save significant money and prevent loss in productivity.
TOP TIP: Download our hotspot guide to help you visually alert your cleaning staff places in your premises that can gather germs.
* Internal Data Source