You know a healthy workspace can improve productivity, but do your clients know? Share these facts with them.
As a commercial cleaner, you know a healthy workspace can improve the lives of the people you work for. When you’re finished cleaning a public space such as an office, restaurant, or retail shop, you know that the people inhabiting those spaces will feel comfortable and secure being in a clean and healthy environment.
They will undoubtedly appreciate the sparkling tile floors, the clean carpet, the spotless bathroom, and the dust-free surfaces.
Do your clients realize, however, just all the ways they benefit from being in a healthy workspace besides more appealing surfaces to look at? While you know your clients do benefit in more ways than one, you might lack the resources to fully articulate and prove to them what those exact benefits are.
That’s about to change. We scoured government websites, medical journals, and scientific reports to bring you hard, solid facts linking a clean, healthy workspace to greater employee satisfaction and productivity.
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The business benefits of a clean and healthy workspace
1. More focused work time: A study published in 2016 found that chaotic environments can lead to employees spending more time snacking. Of course, to counter this, employees can ensure their own areas are clean and clutter free to promote a healthy workspace that will help promote an air of focus – leading to more productivity and less time for snacks.
2. Better decision-making: According to a study in Environment and Behavior, a clean and healthy workspace helps reduce job strain and allows workers to make decisions more quickly instead of falling prey to procrastination.
3. Better decision-making part 2: Indoor air quality is a significant factor in the health of office workers. One factor in improving indoor air quality is reducing the amount of dust and contaminants in the air. With HEPA filters and proper cleaning, you not only improve air quality, but that improved air can lead to 61 percent higher cognitive scores based on decision-making.
4. Decreased procrastination: A study published in Current Psychology states quite bluntly that clutter leads directly to procrastination. While you may not be filing papers on people’s desks, you are helping organize and reduce the general clutter in spaces.
5. Reduced healthcare costs: Harvard Business Review reports that workplace stress is “costing American businesses up to $190 billion every year.” Certainly, there’s more to reducing stress than a clean and tidy environment, but it is one factor that’s easy to address.
6. More productive behavior: A clean environment is likely to make employees less accepting of “counterproductive work behavior,” according to a study published in Social Behavior and Personality. Of course, that means your work as a commercial cleaner means you’re helping improve the work ethic of the spaces you clean.
7. Increased job satisfaction: Environmental Health Perspectives published a study conducted over one year in four office buildings. Not surprisingly, this study found that a clean and healthy workspace was positively correlated to higher job satisfaction.
8. Higher perception of productivity: A study conducted in The Netherlands found that the cleanliness of a workspace, as determined by visual inspection and particle measurement, led to higher perceptions of employee productivity. Furthermore, higher productivity correlated with higher job satisfaction. Put it together, and you can surmise that a clean and healthy workspace leads to more productive and happy employees.
9. Healthier employees: We know that bacteria and viruses like SARS-CoV-2 or the flu virus can live up to several days on some surfaces. However, the CDC points out that proper cleaning and disinfecting can reduce microbe levels by 90-99.9 percent.
10. Reduced “presenteeism:” If you haven’t yet heard of presenteeism, you will soon. You already know what it is, though. Presenteeism is when people show up to work sick. There are some apparent issues with this – primarily that they often pass their cold or flu on to other employees. But did you know that showing up to work sick actually costs employers upwards of $250 billion per year? As a commercial cleaning business, you can cut into that by keeping a clean and healthy workspace for employees.
So next time you need to convince a prospect or client how much your work truly helps their business, pull out some of these facts. Every business wants more productive employees, and a healthy workspace is a simple step in that direction.
If you are ready to take your cleaning organization to the next level, take advantage of a free call with Janitorial Manager to see how our software can make your janitorial operation more successful.