The need for a clean and safe office or workplace is more important than ever, especially when flu and cold season begins to rear its congested head. While some businesses rely on the services offered by independent janitorial providers, they often lack standardized cleaning practices, techniques and follow-through that can leave your office a hot zone for resilient germs that affect staff and customers.
If an independent provider isn’t quite cutting it, it’s time to consider a commercial cleaning company that can rise to the occasion of keeping your workplace pristine and your staff healthy and productive.
5 Top Reasons to Hire a Commercial Cleaning Service
1. Professional & Quality Standards
Commercial cleaning services are held to an incredibly high standard; not only do the products and equipment professional cleaning companies use need to be up to code, but their staff members are held to a higher standard. Staff must be competent cleaning professionals with thorough training. Commercial cleaning services feature quality control and workforce management measures. While commercial cleaning companies offer general janitorial services, they also offer a variety of specialized services that keep your workplace as clean as possible, such as:
Floor and Carpet Cleaning
Pandemic Remediation
Handyman Services and General Maintenance
2. Super Cleaning Technology
Harmful germs, dirt and grime can hide in the floors and carpets of your business, waiting to be kicked up by the passing feet of workers or clients. Using industrial vacuums and other advanced techniques such as vapor cleaning and electrostatic services, commercial cleaning companies can pull particles large and small from heavily trafficked carpets and floors that would otherwise be free to wreak havoc on your occupants’ health.
3. Specialized Services
Commercial cleaning companies utilize heavy duty cleaning products that aid in pandemic remediation; essentially killing viruses and bugs that can cripple a workforce. Successful pandemic remediation requires precision and attention; leaving any door knob or phone handle dirty can aid cold and flu viruses to regain a foothold in your office or workplace. Every business that cares for their own R&D or lab facilities knows the rigorous regulations put in place by organizations like OSHA to guarantee a clean and successful work space for all its employees. In addition to a successful Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP), or other plans to be put in place by business administrators, the specialty cleaning services offered by a commercial cleaning service can drastically improve the cleanliness, and in effect, safety of your R&D or lab facilities. Clean rooms that require sterilization, labs filled with sensitive materials and samples, costly and complicated equipment; the multitude of factors associated with successfully cleaning a specialized facility are best left in the hands of the professionals of a competent commercial cleaning company.
Specialized facilities don’t end in the lab or research department; efficient kitchen sanitation is a cornerstone to any successful food service organization. Restaurant owners are aware of the extremely rigid guidelines set in place by Environmental Health Officers (EHO) when dealing with the cleanliness of their kitchen, preparation areas, and storage rooms. If critical facilities aren’t up to regulation, this could lead to severe penalties and fines, which would mean loss of revenue, consumer trust, and in the worst-case scenario, loss of your business. By keeping hard to clean areas and equipment clean with the use of a commercial cleaning company, the chances of lessening code violations skyrocket.
1. Convenience
Apart from disinfection and cleaning services, some commercial cleaning companies also offer handyman and maintenance services, creating a convenient source for virtually any office need. If your business has or anticipates a specific sanitation or maintenance need such as replacing lighting components, ceiling tiles or conducting electrical or plumbing work, partnering with a commercial cleaning company is your best, most convenient, bet.
2. Saving Money
With two thirds of U.S. businesses claiming that they lose more than $100,000 a year due to workplace-related illness [1], the threat of infectious bugs and viruses in the workplace shouldn’t be taken lightly. A particularly nasty bug can put key staff out of commission for days, drastically decreasing productivity, increasing sick time expenses and stealing focus from the remaining employees left to pick up the slack.
Ways Commercial Cleaning Prevents the Spread of Germs in the Workplace
While the threat of viruses and disease are near constant, there are some steps you can put in place to help reduce the rate of infection for your staff:
Washing Hands Regularly
Disinfecting Frequented Work Surfaces
Paying Extra Mind to Your Community Kitchen
Allowing Sufficient Sick Time for Ill Employees
While these common steps are crucial to preventing the spread of illness among your employees and customers, it simply isn’t enough. Commercial cleaning companies utilize a series of special cleaning techniques and equipment to drastically cull the number of germs and infectious diseases present in the workplace. Electrostatic spray technology, for example, applies disinfectants, mold preventatives and sanitizers efficiently and effectively. The spray uses a wraparound effect to ensure that all three-dimensional objects and hard-to-reach places are coated evenly to remove all unwanted particles.
Utilizing staff with specialized training, products and equipment, commercial cleaning companies can disinfect and sterilize any environment, from the common office to unique R&D facilities and clean rooms. In addition to the valuable services that commercial cleaning companies offer businesses, their effect on the environment is another major factor to consider when selecting the right partner.
Eco-friendly Office Cleaning
First, the bad news; a majority of commercial cleaning services rely on the harsh and harmful cleaning chemicals of yesteryear – cleaners and disinfectants that contain harmful chemicals like phthalates, perchloroethylene (PERC) and triclosan, chemicals proven to cause serious health problems [2],[3]. Using these chemicals can have adverse long-term health effects on a businesses’ employees and customers and should be avoided at all costs.
The good news is that some commercial cleaning companies are beginning to implement sustainable and eco-friendly and green cleaning solutions to reduce their effect on the environment and the clients that they serve. Most green cleaning products provide the same level of sanitization as traditional options while also improving air quality, reducing packaging and offering bio-degradability. Avoiding products and techniques that have proven negative health and environmental effects reduces the harmful footprint that a commercial cleaning company has on the quality of the indoor environment (a workplace’s air quality) and the external environment.
Conclusion
While flu and cold season is the most daunting time of year when it comes to maintaining your employees’ well-being and your businesses’ productivity and revenue, commercial cleaning companies can help year-round. By using specialized techniques, products and trained staff, they can actively reduce the number of harmful germs and pathogens running rampant in a given workspace.
Aside from keeping a workplace clean and disease-free, commercial cleaning companies also use eco-friendly techniques, equipment and products to help reduce the negative effects on the internal and external environment. Choosing the right commercial cleaning service can keep employees healthy and productive, reducing lost revenue for your business.
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