To maintain employee productivity and company growth, it is important to keep the workplace clean.
That way, employees are less likely to get sick and decrease the company’s chances of turnover. Simply because an employee who takes care of self-hygiene also positively impacts the cleanliness and hygiene at work and shows respect to his coworkers environment and safety.
For an employer who cares for the image of his company this kind of employee is gold because they represent the company.
Smart employees know how costly it is to create a brand and gain customers in the long run if their employees dress unprofessionally and look unhealthy.
Here are some tips that you can do so that you can have proper hygiene in your workplace and you and your workers can be safe and healthy.
Employee personal hygiene tips
Every employee should take responsibility for maintaining their workstation or working area cleanliness.
Once everybody takes care of personal hygiene and workstation cleanliness, the hygiene and cleanliness of the entire workplace become safer for every member of the office.
Workplace hygiene starts with every employee's personal hygiene.
1. Bathe or shower regularly
Wash to prevent releasing unpleasant body odor in the office.
Take a shower every time you feel your body needs a refresh. For most people, it means taking a shower every day before work.
During the shower, use soap or body wash to wash off the sweat and odors from your body.
After that, apply deodorant to prevent developing any odors. day and use soap or a body wash to make sure that you are clean and to remove germs from your body.
2. Have clean hair
When you come to work, have your hair clean and fresh.
Wash your hair with shampoo. After that, brush to keep it neat and tidy.
If the employee works in the hospitality or the food industry, they should have their hair tied up or wear a hair net, if necessary.
If the employee has a beard, he needs to maintain it clean.
3. Wear clean clothing
When an employee shows up at work he needs to wear clean clothes.
That means wearing fresh, clean, and ironed.
4. Keep your nails clean
An employee should have his/her nails clean and shortly cut.
Washing hands helps maintain employee's hands and nails clean.
5. Maintain good oral hygiene
To prevent bad breath, an employee should come to work with a fresh mouth.
The employee needs to brush your teeth every morning as part of your daily grooming routine to help reduce the risk of tooth decay, oral diseases, and bad breath.
You should use a good toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, making sure that you brush for at least 2 minutes, making sure you reach all surfaces of all teeth.
To reduce the risk of tooth decay or gum disease, use dental floss or interdental sticks to clean between the teeth and use a mouthwash to clean the overall mouth area.
For more personal hygiene practices check the link below:
Workplace hygiene and cleanliness tips
Now, to encourage the employees to maintain the hygiene and cleanliness in the office, the employer should supply them with the necessary tools and remind them about the importance of cleaning after themselves to maintain the office clean.
Find below some tips for employers to encourage employees to maintain hygiene and cleanliness in the office.
6. Encourage regular hand-washing
An employee may be aware of the importance of washing hands in a workplace environment but without the necessary tools and disposal employees may have a hard time maintaining their hygiene.
As an employer, remind your team about the importance of washing hands regularly to stop the spread of bacteria and viruses.
Reinforce this with signs above the washbasins. Provide the washrooms with soap and hand wash. Supply your team with hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes.
7. Raise the personal hygiene at work topic
Communicate with your team about the importance of keeping the office clean and hygienic. Make it a personal responsibility, which adds up and, as a result, maintains the entire office clean and safe for everybody.
8. Ask employees to eat in designated areas
When the pressure is on, employees grab a snack or even take lunch at their desk or other work areas to meet the deadlines.
That’s a common practice in workplaces but not a good habit for an office that pretends to be clean and safe for its employees.
When staff members eat at their workspaces this scatters bits of food and debris, which in turn encourages the growth of bacteria and germs.
To prevent this, create exclusively designed areas such as a break room or kitchen and insist that everybody eats in these areas.
9. Allow employees to take sick leaves
If an employee is proven to be sick send him home.
A sick employee may spread the virus through the office and infect other employees.
To prevent that don’t force the employee to stay at work but rather approve a sick leave. Let him recover at home and come back to work once he feels better.
Your employee can work remotely from home which is a good solution that you might want to look into.
Don’t stick to rules and regulations that force employees to come to the office, even if they are not in a situation to work actively. Always be ready to help them with sick leaves and day-offs.
10. Hire a cleaning company
Besides the fact that employees have the responsibility to clean after themselves in the office, a cleaning company may clean the workplace once everybody is out. They may clean the dust from the floor and the desks and even take the bins out.
By that time, employees will enjoy coming into a clean and fresh office each morning. That gives them another reason to keep their desk and surroundings clean.
11. Create a company hygiene policy
Make employee personal hygiene a company matter rather than a personal matter.
Having a company hygiene policy in place allows you to request from an employee to clean after him in the office as something that everybody in the office has the responsibility to do.
The company hygiene policy should state the guidelines that must be followed by everybody in the company
12. Minimize the on-desk clutter
If every employee would maintain their workstation clean, the entire office would be much cleaner as well.
The place where the employee works can easily become full of unorganized papers.
Considering that the employee workstation is where he spends most of his time in the workday, they should be maintained, organized and clean.
Remind your team about this.
13. Provide a clean bathroom
A clean bathroom is pivotal to having a clean workplace. This can be handled by a janitorial company.
Provide the office bathroom with hand sanitizers, antibacterial, soap, and running water.
Tissues, hand sanitizers, antibacterial soap, and running water should be available as well.
14. Air out the office
Make sure to air out the entire office.
The air conditioner ON, you are recycling the germs around the office. Instead of spreading the bacteria in the office, turn off the AC and open the office windows.
That way, the office will be aired out by fresh air, which lowers the chances of someone getting ill.
