Uber-Ick Local Offices Make Companies Sick
Daria Larsen manages multiple properties, mostly Class A medical office buildings.
Location is important, as well as timely repairs. But ongoing cleanliness at local offices can be a deal-breaker.
On a scale of 1-10, Larsen said maintaining a clean facility is the highest. “We are a commercial property with many medical offices, so cleaning is of the utmost importance,” said the property manager at Atkins Companies in West Orange, New Jersey.
Unfortunately, research underscores the startling fact that the number of bacteria at a typical local office building grossly exceeds the amount at your home. First, employees touch about 30 items in a local office per minute and every interaction transfers bacteria. Second, add a bunch of people in tight, confined spaces to amplify the potential problem. It only takes four hours for a virus to spread from the front door of your local office to more than 50% of frequently touched surfaces.
Hloom, a company that sells resumes and cover-letter templates for jobseekers, hired a scientific team to do the research for them so they could build a marketing campaign around the lack of cleanliness. The company leverages the disturbing findings to motive employees to change jobs so they can escape the grim and gook, assuming they land at a local office that works with a premier commercial cleaning crew.
Here’s what they found:
- The start button on the photo copier has four times more bacteria, measured in colony-forming units (CFU), than your pet’s food dish (1,200,013 CFU vs. 306,000 CFU).
- A coffee pot handle at a typical local office has 34 times more bacteria than a toilet seat at school (108,592 vs. 3,200 CFU). (Keep in mind, U.S. coffee drinkers consume about three cups a day.)
- An office-entrance doorknob has 2.5 times more bacteria than a home bathroom doorknob (545 CFU vs. 203 CFU).
- A water dispenser handle in the breakroom has four times more bacteria than a cutting board (185 CFU vs. 44 CFU).
- A conference doorknob has 3.5 times more bacteria than a car steering wheel (9 CFU vs. 2.6 CFU).
The study identified several types of bacteria, including gram-positive cocci that can cause skin infections, pneumonia and blood poisoning. Gram-negative rods, which can be harmful, along with gram-positive rods and bacillus, were also identified.
To keep bacteria and viruses at bay, local offices will need to work with a professional commercial cleaning company that utilizes antimicrobial solutions for floor cleaning, carpet cleaning, and window cleaning.
Delco Admin’s Carol Gallagher agrees that premier commercial cleaning is mission-critical for local offices. She says her pain point isn’t a surprise: “Restrooms,” she says, “and the quality of cleaning in them. There is a lot of people in our building and that area sees a lot of usage.”
Scientists have found genetic material of more than 77,000 types of bacteria and viruses in public restrooms in a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Public restrooms are the breeding ground for staphylococcus, E. coli, streptococcus, shigella bacteria, hepatitis A virus, the common cold virus, as well as various sexually transmitted organisms. While handwashing is an example of how to protect yourself, only 67% wash their hands after using a public restroom.
Once they wash their hands, however, employees tend to use automatic hand dryers that can counter the cleanliness. Unfortunately, hot-air hand dryers collect bacteria from the air and spread the germs onto washed hands. Jet-air hand dryers spread 60 times more bacteria than warm dryers and 1,300 times more than paper towels. Research published in the Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control journal found that hand dryers in public restrooms presented bacteria that is resistant to at least one antibiotic.
Dirty local offices can also impact a company’s bottom line in many ways. A grimy appearance can damage the reputation of your brand from a customer perspective, as well as an employee perspective. In 2023, employees have become ambassadors for their respective companies, so keeping the place clean will increase productivity and goodwill on platforms like Glassdoor. In fact, having a one-star higher rating on Glassdoor is related to almost one percent higher annual return on company assets, which means public companies experience an extra stock bump of 16% annually.
Brand story is especially important for upstart Do Good Foods, which is the first chicken brand that fights food waste and combats climate change by diverting millions of pounds of grocery food from landfills into chicken feed.
Christina Martin, a materials scheduling clerk at Do Good Foods in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, says cleanliness is tied to the company’s brand. “It’s directly tied to our office and values as it it’s a reflection on us and how we care about our clients. We have investors and shareholders who come through regularly! We always have corporate visits, so the cleaning reflects our company.
“Lack of care is opposite of everything our company stands for,” she adds. “Our environment, our business, everyone here takes a lot of pride in what we do and the message we are sending to our investors and customers. It is a reflection on everything we stand for as a business.”
Is cleanliness vital to your brand? Contact CNS Cleaning Company or call (215) 782-6025 today.
CNS Cleaning Company is a family owned and locally operated cleaning company. We provide industrial cleaning, corporate office cleaning, janitorial and porter services throughout Delaware Valley Metropolitan Area since 1983. Our professional cleaners are fully licensed, bonded and insured.
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