Business
A Hygienic Healthy Workforce
Keep Your Workforce Healthy, It’s For Your Own Good
It is estimated that for each employee a company has, they will pay around £495 in direct costs relating to sickness, with indirect costs argued to be even more*. So for every 10 employees, you could be paying around £5k per year in sickness related costs. A healthy workforce is more cost effective, productive and efficient.
As an employer, there are things you can put in place to try and reduce the likelihood of your staff being sick, especially from cross contamination within the workplace. CNM Online, the leading provider of heating, washroom and pest control products for both trade and commercial use, have shared their best practise.
1. Ensure you have the best soaps, dispensers and hand washing guidelines across the business premise. On average, we hold between 2m-10m bacteria between our hand and our elbow*** at any given point, and each time we use the toilet, the number on our fingertips doubles. Bacteria and germs cause sickness, and one person may be carrying a bacteria which isn’t harmful to them but is to others. A good hand washing policy and equipment should severely limit the transfer of bugs from one person to another.
- Buy fruit for the office. This may impose a small cost to the business, but fruit boosts the immune system and should help keep your staff healthy. It also promotes a sense of care from the employer to the employee, and could boost moral.
- Get some hunny. With the start of spring and through summer you might notice a rise in colds and sneezing across the team, this is probably due to hayfever. It has been suggested that a spoon full of locally sourced honey should prevent people from being allergic to the pollens in the air, as it builds their natural immune system. This can be spread onto toast or mixed with a hot water and a little sugar.
- Encourage hydration. Make sure your water coolers are accessible and full. Encouraging staff to drink water will improve their overall health and can help with fatigue.
- If you have vending machines, keep them healthy. Offer healthy snacking alternatives to crisps and chocolate; such as cereal bars or fruit, this could help improve your employees overall health.
- If someone isn’t well, the last thing you want is for them to come in and spread the virus to other members of staff. Before you know it yourself and others could be sick. Try to ensure that if and when needed, staff can work from home, or alternatively, that they can work in confinement. Limit the spread of any virus as best you can.
- Ensure personal hygiene standards are set and being upheld. This includes employees desk spaces and working areas. Even if the mess they create doesn’t seem to be affecting them, it could be affecting others.
- Try to avoid ever using material hand towels within bathrooms. Disposable paper towels or hand dryers are much more hygienic. Hand towels could be subject to hundreds of people’s hands over the course of a day, and the bacteria could remain on them for upto 3 hours. Hand dryers should limit the transfer of germs, as should disposable paper towels.
Although some of these measures may cost the business some money to adopt, they could save you money in the long term and increase staff moral.
For more information on hygiene, or to take a look at the extensive range of washroom, heating and catering equipment, please visit CNM Online at http://www.cnmonline.co.uk/
*http://www.wash-hands.com/hand_hygiene_and_you/did_you_know
