You may have built a business around a brilliant product or idea. You may have pulled off the coolest office renovation in town. Or maybe you even invented the best chicken sandwich around – OK, you didn’t do that, it’s already been done. But regardless of how great your business or company seems to you; how does it appear to those around you? Namely, your employees and your customers.
Workplace cleanliness and its impact on those who have the power to sink you or help you soar is often underestimated, and sometimes with dire consequences.
The International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA), the world’s leading cleaning industry association, puts the Value of Clean into perspective by showing how workplace cleanliness has a real and measurable value.
Employee Satisfaction
It may be immediate, it may be gradual, but the lack of workplace cleanliness will eventually affect your existing workforce, not to mention the workforce you will attract. Even as some employees get used to dust bunnies and clutter in the corners, unemptied wastebaskets, and breakrooms with dirty dishes in the sink (it starts to feel like home), it will be an immediate turn off to prospective employees. Imagine walking into an office and seeing (or smelling!) an unclean space. Not only does it show the company doesn’t take pride in itself, it also sends the message that its employees’ health and comfort aren’t important either. Physical environments can affect both physical and mental well-being; and when workers spend the better part of their day in an unclean workplace, it will lead to dissatisfaction, negativity, low morale and soon, employee turnover.
Employee Productivity
The impact of workplace cleanliness on productivity and its effect on a company’s bottom line couldn’t be any clearer. From dust exposure that can affect cognitive skills like typing and creative thinking, to cold/flu symptoms spread by the hundreds of thousands of germs and viruses that you can’t see in an office, sick employees cost money. According to ISSA, unplanned absences from work translate into a 54 percent decrease in productivity, and a 39 percent drop in sales. More than seven sick days per employee per year cost companies more than $225 BILLION a year!
Conversely, a workplace that is routinely and properly cleaned and sanitized reduces the likelihood of catching a cold/flu by 80 percent, reduces viruses on surfaces by 62 percent and reduces absenteeism by 46 percent. That means more green to keep you in the black.
Customer Retention
Whether it is trash on the curb outside, a musty smell inside, stained carpets or a restroom that is either out of toilet tissue and soap or has overflowing trash bins, your workplace cleanliness is definitely noticed by your customers and speaks directly to how well — or how little — they think of you, and how likely they are to continue doing business with you.
Customers in the retail industry ranked cleanliness as the most important consideration when deciding where to shop, and 60 percent said a store’s environment encouraged them to buy more in a month’s time. In the food industry, cleanliness ranked number one when it comes to customer satisfaction. More than six in 10 fast-food restaurant customers say they will go to a restaurant more often if it is clean. Moreover, a whopping 94 percent of customers say they would avoid a business with dirty restrooms.
At Enviro-Master, our mission is to disinfect, sanitize and protect your business. When you put the health and safety of your customers and employees first with our restroom hygiene services, you are not only protecting your brand, you are giving a boost to your bottom line.
