Everyone gets sick once in a while, but employers and workers alike fear the flu season. Why? Because a sick workforce is a major detriment to office productivity. Work can get piled up, projects fall behind schedule, and everyone is miserable as they cough, sneeze, and fight headaches.
Flu season is tough in the office, but there are ways that you can prepare for it. When you’re prepared, you won’t lose out on productivity and profit. Here are a few tips to keep your office healthy.
Have Cleaners Disinfect Surfaces and Touchpoints
High-traffic touchpoints are one of the biggest culprits for spreading germs. On average, you encounter 300 surfaces every 30 minutes, exposing you to 840,000 germs. This is why touchpoint and surface cleaning is a must during flu season.
Antimicrobial products are one of the most effective ways to kill germs on touchpoints. Our teams use Silver Defender antimicrobial film to protect sink handles, doorknobs, elevator buttons, and other high-traffic touchpoints. They are effective for killing 99.9% of germs, so they can be a real benefit during flu season.
Increase Scheduled Cleaning Services
While the flu can be caught during any time of the year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sees an increase of activity starting in October. However, activity tends to be at its highest from December through March. This is due to a mix of factors, from people staying indoors more to vitamin D deficiency due to a lack of sunlight.
This is why, if you have a commercial cleaning crew regularly scheduled, you should increase the number of days they come in when fall rolls around. The more frequently they come in, the more often they’ll be disinfecting surfaces and refilling soap and hand sanitizer dispensers.
Encourage Employees to Call Out Sick
In a post-pandemic world, you would think that most people would naturally call out of work when they get sick. Unfortunately, even now, many workers would rather come into the office despite feeling sick than taking paid time off (PTO). This could be because they’re worried about falling behind on their work, unclear office policies, or even not having enough sick days to use.
Even the best commercial cleaning service can’t prevent the office from getting sick if employees keep coming in when they’re ill. Because, unfortunately, when one employee comes in while sick, their germs will inevitably spread to others. And when those employees keep coming in sick, the spread gets worse. This will ruin an office’s productivity far worse than a single employee calling out for a few days. Implementing good sick policies, especially during flu season, will keep sick people out of the office. This way fewer germs will spread and the ones that are in the office can be killed by your cleaning crew.
Flu season doesn’t have to cause problems in your office if you prepare for it early. Contact us to adjust your cleaning schedule to eliminate germs during flu season, and make sure your employees can stay healthy.