Maintaining workplace hygiene is not just about cleanliness—it’s about fostering a healthier, more productive environment for employees, clients, and visitors. Shared spaces and surfaces in offices and workplaces can easily become breeding grounds for germs, increasing the risk of illness among employees. However, with the right tools and practices, you can significantly reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses, promote wellness, and ensure your business operates smoothly.
The Importance of Workplace Hygiene
Workplaces are high-traffic environments where shared surfaces and interactions can quickly spread pathogens. From desks and keyboards to break rooms and restrooms, germs lurk on many surfaces. Illnesses such as Influenza and the common cold, and other serious infections like norovirus (stomach flu) or MRSA can spread through everyday actions like touching contaminated surfaces or improper hand hygiene.
The impact of these illnesses goes beyond employee health—they also affect productivity and costs. Studies show that U.S. workplace illnesses cost businesses $576 billion annually, including $227 billion from lost productivity due to absenteeism and presenteeism (when employees work while sick but are less effective).
Common Ways Germs Spread at Work
- Touching Contaminated Surfaces: Frequently touched surfaces like door handles, keyboards, break room appliances, and office equipment can harbor germs for hours or even days if not properly disinfected.
- Improper Hand Hygiene: According to the CDC, poor handwashing habits contribute to the spread of many diseases. While many people acknowledge the importance of hand hygiene, a significant portion fail to wash their hands correctly or at all.
- Coughing and Sneezing: Airborne droplets from coughs and sneezes can travel significant distances, spreading germs onto surfaces or directly to others.
Three Essential Products to Improve Workplace Hygiene
By incorporating the following products into your workplace hygiene strategy, you can create a safer and healthier environment:
1. Hand Sanitizing Towelettes
Hand sanitizing wipes provide a quick and effective way to remove 99.9% of common germs from hands and skin, especially when soap and water are not immediately available. Convenient and easy to use, hand sanitizing towelettes encourage better hand hygiene among employees and visitors.
Where to place them:
- Reception areas
- Break rooms
- Bathrooms
- High-touch zones like copiers or shared workstations
2. Disinfectant Wipes
Unlike sanitizing wipes, disinfectant towelettes — like FORCE2® Disinfecting Wipes — are effective against 51 specific pathogens including cold & flu viruses, Staph, E.coi, MRSA, HIV, Salmonella and Strep, They are fast drying, and leave no dull or sticky residue for a powerful clean! Use them to regularly disinfect commonly touched surfaces in your office.
Regularly disinfecting surfaces ensures germs don’t have a chance to linger and multiply, helping to reduce the risk of infections spreading throughout the workplace.
3. Dispensers and Stands
2XL dispensers and stands provide a practical solution for storing and displaying sanitizing and disinfecting wipes in a way that’s accessible for workers and visitors and encourages frequent use. Placing these in strategic, high-traffic areas serves as a visual reminder for employees and visitors to maintain good hygiene.
Benefits:
- Promotes consistent hand and surface hygiene
- Reduces the likelihood of contamination
- Enhances the overall appearance and functionality of your office
Building a Healthier Workplace
Creating a clean and healthy workplace requires more than basic cleaning routines. While custodial teams typically handle tasks like vacuuming and trash removal, regular disinfecting and sanitizing of high-touch surfaces are essential to stop the spread of germs.
By integrating products like disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizing towelettes, and well-placed dispensers into your hygiene protocols, you can:
- Protect employee health
- Minimize absenteeism
- Boost productivity
- Demonstrate a commitment to workplace wellness
A Small Step with Big Rewards
Investing in workplace hygiene is not just a precaution—it’s a proactive way to safeguard your employees and business. With the right products and practices, you can create a healthier environment that keeps everyone performing at their best, especially during cold and flu season.
By taking simple yet impactful measures, your business can benefit from improved morale, reduced health-related disruptions, and a positive reputation for caring about employee well-being. Clean, safe spaces make for happy, productive people—and that’s a win for everyone.