Each day thousands of office workers in the UK call in sick after catching the common cold or bug from someone else in the office, causing disruption to the work schedules, an increasing sickness bill for employers and worry for many staff.

In a recent survey, it was found that 71% of people often avoided sick co-workers in fear of catching their illness and were worried about transmitting the germs from their workplace back home to their friends and family.

Within an office environment, there are many pieces of equipment that multiple staff will use and touch each and every day, and with some bacteria having the ability to live on surfaces for several days, its no wonder germs spread so fast around office staff. Many of the workers surveyed revealed that they used their elbows (57%) or a single finger (29%) to open toilet doors in order to avoid touching germ-ridden surfaces. It’s not just your staff that are concerned either - 73% of commercial workers believed that a poorly maintained washroom indicated bad business management, which might lead to your clients looking elsewhere.

Not only can office germs lead to staff taking time off sick, but it can have a massive impact on productivity. In the survey, it was found that staff would like to see their offices being cleaned more frequently by cleaning professionals and 42% of respondents stated that a clean working environment would help them to become more productive.

By implementing a dedicated cleaning team and functional handwashing facilities, you can tackle the germs in your office head on - giving your staff no reason to worry.

Black light technology can identify high risk areas within your facilities and we have this technology.