There can be a temptation among many of us at times to imagine that a lack of cleanliness in the office would be largely an aesthetic matter, or even one of simple pride, rather than necessarily something that should be a top-of-the-line priority for company bosses and workers.
Yes, when there are constantly new and stressful assignments coming in, and deadlines to contend with, you might easily forget to wipe down your office desk – never mind undertake a more substantial clean of the space as a whole.
But below, we have set out some of the risks of allowing such deterioration in the cleanliness of your office desk, and why you must therefore take it seriously.
It can pose a real risk to your health
Did you know that the typical office desk hosts over 10 million bacteria? On its own, that might seem like a relatively meaningless figure, but it amounts to 400 times more dirt than can be found on a toilet seat.
This, combined with the fact that bacteria can remain active for months on surfaces and equipment in the office, should worry you if you haven’t cleaned your office desk for a while. The germs from such surfaces can easily transfer to the person using the space – probably you – causing illnesses such as flu, food poisoning, and diarrhoea.
And illness, of course, brings with it such risks as forced absences from work, and the capacity of your company’s team being reduced. It’s one reason why arranging for your office desk to be professionally cleaned isn’t just something you might do for the sake of maintaining a pleasant appearance.
Your workspace becomes an off-putting sight
We have mentioned in this piece already that the cleanliness of an office workspace isn’t just about aesthetic matters.
Indeed, that is because even the visual factors that do exist can have real knock-on practical effects. A classic example is a potential client or stakeholder coming into your office, seeing the dirtiness, and perhaps suddenly not being so confident about being associated with your company.
You might imagine that a would-be client is hardly likely to withdraw from a relationship with your company simply because of a dirty desk. However, it might be a signifier of a bigger concern; that a company that doesn’t even keep its office desks clean might not be one that takes pride in itself, or that values the health and wellbeing of its employees.
You are less likely to want to spend time at your desk
When a survey was carried out several years ago – covering some 1,500 workers in 300 offices – it was found that in offices where workers felt there was a lack of cleanliness, 72% of respondents said their working environment damaged their productivity.
Meanwhile, almost half – 46% – of those respondents said they took longer lunch breaks and didn’t spend as much time in the office as a result of such dirtiness. A quarter of those polled even said they took sick leave due to finding their unclean surroundings depressing.
These are statistics that should worry employees and employers alike. As a worker, you will naturally wish to have a pleasant and inspiring place in which to work. And if you are reading this as a company boss, the implications that unclean office desks could have for such things as employee sickness rates and staff retention should be causes for concern.
Hopefully, all the above will have made clear to you that a dirty office desk can bring risks far beyond the workspace being less pleasant to look at. Certain detrimental effects can be serious ones for a company and its workers, particularly given the potential accumulative impact of the aforementioned factors combined.
So, one thing your organisation should be aspiring to do in 2023, is get its office cleaning regime right. Enquire to the team at Nationwide Property Clean today, and we can help make that a reality for your business, for the right price.
