How to Keep Your Office Clean During Cold and Flu Season
Cold and flu season is upon us and keeping shared spaces clean and disinfected is an important preventive measure employers should take seriously. Having multiple team members go down with a nasty cold or flu all at the same time can leave the rest of your employees stressed and overworked. So, here are a few strategies to help ensure that your team stays healthy, happy, productive and germ-free this cold and flu season.
Hire Professionals
If you’ve been on the fence about whether or not your office space needs professional cleaners, now is the time to pull the trigger. Often, cost is a barrier to hiring professional cleaners, however, in the long run, you may end up saving your company money by bringing in professionals to handle office cleanliness. The cost of sick employees will likely be far greater than the cost of hiring professional janitorial staff to help keep shared spaces and devices free from cold and flu-causing viruses and bacteria. Professional cleaning is an investment worth making. Here are a few strategies you can use to keep your employees healthy and happy this cold and flu season!
Educate Employees
Employee education is an important component of preventing the spread of cold and flu bacteria amongst team members. It is crucial to teach employees how they can help keep their own workspace and shared workspaces free from germs. Firstly, educate your employees about proper hand washing techniques this can be done with signage placed in kitchens, bathrooms and other shared spaces. Employees should also be taught proper respiratory etiquette like covering coughs and sneezes with tissues. You might also want to consider bringing in a nurse to the office for a day so that employees can receive their flu shot quickly and easily.
You should also ensure that hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes are readily available in multiple locations around the office. In addition, explore hands-free options for bathrooms to help eliminate high traffic touch points.
Finally, encourage employees to stay home if they are sick and facilitate ways for them to complete their tasks remotely so that they can stay at home until they are fully recovered and no longer contagious. Remember, it only takes one person to start a chain reaction of sick employees.
Make an Office Cleaning Checklist
Whether you have hired a professional cleaning team or you are managing your office cleaning internally, ensure that you have an office cleaning checklist and schedule. This way, important areas that are likely to be breeding grounds for cold and flu-causing bacteria are being cleaned regularly throughout the day. This list might include telephone receivers, toilet and faucet handles as well as doorknobs.
Keeping your office free from cold and flu-causing bacteria and viruses is a major undertaking. If a manager is tasked with this role it is possible they might find the added responsibility overwhelming and difficult to manage. If you’re concerned about maintaining the health and safety of your employees during cold and flu season, contact us. We’ll outline our services for you and help you find the right plan for you and your team.