Germs are constantly multiplying in the workplace. One eye-opening fact is that the average work desk can be up to 100 times less hygienic than your kitchen table, and 400 times dirtier than the average toilet seat! When you’re working in close proximity with other colleagues, it’s no wonder that germs and illnesses can spread so quickly, leading to several employees needing sick days away from the office.
Whilst you might consider the recruitment of a cleaner an unnecessary expense, DCS Multiserve, specialists in industrial cleaning, investigate why it could be one of your greatest investments. In a recent report, it was revealed that sickness absences cost employers on average around £29 billion per annum. Here, we discuss the cost of sick days versus the cost of keeping your workplace clean and germ free. Could a clean office save you money in sickness pay-outs?
A breeding ground for germs
Without regular industrial cleaning, the workplace can become a place for harmful germs to thrive. The average keyboard is home to approximately 16 million microbes alone – that’s around 3,295 microbes per square inch of your keyboard. Compare this to the fact there’s only around 49 microbes per square inch of a toilet seat, and it suddenly becomes apparent how dirty our keyboards are. And that’s no surprise when only 3% of offices are said to sufficiently clean their equipment – and 11% of employees never clean their keyboards.
The germs that cause the common cold can live for up to 72 hours on office equipment. This means that you could contract the illness after two days of contamination. Even more worrying is that more serious microbes such as MRSA can last anywhere between six weeks to seven months, highlighting how important it is to regularly clean work surfaces and equipment.
When surveyed, 32% of individuals confessed to not washing their hands after going to the toilet. Furthermore, 30% admitting they only use water to ‘wash’ their hands, it’s no surprise that 24% of us have faecal bacteria on our hands, which is then transferred onto the surfaces which we touch. One single person carrying a virus will infect 50% of all equipment and fellow employees in the same vicinity within four hours. Killing germs sooner rather than later will reduce and prevent future contamination and the spread of infections around the office.
How much are sick days costing you?
To examine how much sick days can cost employers, the UK’s biggest annual survey of sickness absence rates and costs was carried out. This collected data from over 670 organisations with just under two million employees. The results showed that during 2014, sickness absence averaged at 2.8% of working time per annum – that equates to 6.5 sick days per employee. In total, this cost employers an estimated £29 billion a year.
It appears that this year will follow a similar pattern. So far in 2017, public sector organisations have witnessed a median of 3.5% of working time lost due to illness (8.1 days per employee) and 2.2% in private-sector organisations (5.1 days per employee). Without your employees, your company’s production rate is limited.
With an astonishing 80% of infections being passed around via contact with contaminated surfaces, your workplace could be the reasoning behind high levels of sick days. Allowing germs to spread around the office can leave employers short staffed and out of pocket, so maybe it’s time to invest in an office cleaner?
Investing in a cleaner
There are many quick and cheap things that you can do to keep hygiene levels in the office up – hand sanitising wipes and gel, regular desk and keyboard cleans and implementing a no food at your desk rule should benefit your business. However, you can’t expect your staff to clean the entire workplace on a daily basis to kill any germs that have set up home around the office. Hiring a cleaner, or cleaning company to clean your workplace is an investment which will in turn help to save you money in sick days.
Many existing businesses understand the importance of office cleanliness and spend around £13 per hour, per cleaner. However, prices can vary on the size of your premises and what you require the cleaner to do. Quotes are unique to each business. It’s likely that you will not need your cleaner to work every hour of the working day – in most cases, a few hours are sufficient — that’s if the company you employ provides a reliable and quality service.
To understand the annual payments, if you were to hire a cleaner for two hours, each working day, it would cost an estimated £130 per week to keep your office clean. Presuming you require a cleaner for 50 weeks of the year, with two weeks off to account for Christmas and any office closures, it would cost approximately £6,760 per year, which is a worthwhile investment to prevent the spread of infections around the office, and save you money in staff sick pay.
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