Pablo Luna
Naturally, as a business owner, you must be full-on prepared to wage a war against your business enemies and competitors. But, have you done something for germs? Is your staff really healthy? As a business owner, it is your duty to ensure proper hygienic conditions at the workplace, especially when poor sanitation is the primary cause of about 432,000 deaths around the world.
Sure, you must have expanded this year. This means that your staff count has also expanded, right! As the number of people on your payroll increases, the level of hygiene decreases. If the workplace environment is healthy, the staff is likely to be more productive and indulge in your work for longer periods.
In case you are in a dilemma about how to ensure proper workplace hygiene, here are a few quick tips that can come in handy for you.
1. Hand Sanitizer
It doesn’t matter where a person works or what kind of work has to be done. Germs are everywhere! If you work in an air-conditioned office place, it doesn’t mean there are no germs. As the owner of the workplace, you must make sure that you keep a good stock of hand sanitizers in the washrooms.
It would be even better if you can keep the hand sanitizers all around the workplace. This would come very useful in the flu season. Let me tell you another benefit- Increased productivity. Your employees will have to take a short walk to the sanitizer instead of going to the washroom thereby wasting lesser time.
2. Set aside a separate place for eating and drinking
Put a big NO on any kind of ingestion in the workplace. Eating and drinking at the working desk are extremely unhygienic. Also, it is distracting for others and hence the work productivity decreases. You can designate a specific area in the workplace for food and drinks.
A separate area for eating and drinking will keep your workplace cleaner. It will also eliminate the place of food odors, stains, and trash. Many times, your staff must have spilled their coffee on your keyboard. This disaster would not happen if they have a separate area.
3. Clean Up
After you have designated a separate place for eating and drinking, you need someone to keep the place clean. This is not a big issue. Ask your employees to clean their own mess.
Your job would be to simply keep giving them this reminder. You can put up instructional posters as well. Make sure that the refrigerator is cleaned on a weekly basis to avoid bad odors. Also, check if the leftovers are disposed off regularly.
4. Allow Sick Days
If your employee is sick, there’s nothing you can do. The damage is already done, so you must now focus on restraining the problem. If your sick employee comes to the office, there is a high chance he spread his sickness among others. Thus, it’s always wise to allow the infected employee to stay at home.
5. Keep a good stock
Often it may happen that you can’t estimate how many tissue boxes or how many sanitizer bottles would be needed. Better to overstock it. Keep it in bulk or else you might have to run out to get the supplies if an immediate need arises.
6. Follow a Cleaning Schedule
It is recommended to carry out a modest cleaning of the workplace 2-3 times a week. Arranging a professional cleaning staff would be better to ensure that everything is properly disinfected.
Also, tell your staff to clean their desks every day. Stats reveal that a desk contains 21,000 germs per sq. inch, that amounts to over 1,000,000 germs per table which is 10 times more than an average kitchen table. Now imagine the after-effects!
7. Bring Awareness
It hurts me to say that our people have a lack of awareness of the benefits of cleanliness. We all have that one person who has to be reminded to take a shower daily. Until and unless the staff brings a change among themselves, the condition won’t improve.
After you have done everything on your part, take some time to educate them on the importance of hygiene. Set some strict rules for workplace hygiene and make sure they abide by them.
It is true that maintaining hygiene in a workplace is a very difficult task, but you would surely benefit from it in the long run. With the passage of time, you yourself will see the change. A cleaner workplace, happier staff, and increased productivity are the dreams of every business owner.
