Cleaning & Restoration

Surprising Facts About Cold and Flu Season and Having Healthy Employees

Surprising Facts About Cold and Flu Season and Having Healthy Employees

As a business owner, it’s in your best interests to have healthy employees. A working staff that feels great is more productive. You’ll have fewer call-outs for sick days, and that helps the entire organization run more smoothly. What can you do to keep the flu and cold bugs away from employees? The truth about keeping your team safe may surprise you.

Cleanliness is Key for Health

The single best thing anyone can do to keep the flu away is to wash their hands regularly. You cannot stand in the restrooms to make sure everyone is washing their hands, but you can take steps to encourage this good hygiene habit. Make sure that you have plenty of soap at all sinks in the facility. It doesn’t even have to be anti-bacterial. The act of washing and rinsing the hands is what really matters. Post signs near the sinks reminding employees to scrub their hands for at least 20 seconds, or long enough to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice.

Encourage Exercise

Regular exercise and physical activity are good for the immune system. It shortens the duration and severity of illness. As an employer, you can talk with local health clubs to offer discounts to your employees, and you may even be able to get your health insurance provider to offer discounts to certain gyms.

Let People Call In Sick

Dedicated employees will come to work even when they’re sick and contagious. This sets the company up for a disaster as the germs can run rampant through the office. One interesting fact is that the cold virus can travel up to six feet, so simply keeping your distance from that sick employee may not be enough to stop the spread. When someone comes in and they’re obviously sick, send them home for the day. If they don’t want to fall behind on work or put more on their co-workers, then see if there’s something they can do from home to help out the team without making everyone else sick.

Decontaminate the Office

You have no control over sick customers who walk through the door, and people are often contagious before they ever show symptoms and for a day or two after they start feeling better. You can keep your team safer by having the office disinfected on a regular basis. Your employees might be happy to spray down their desks and workstations, but you also need to have the cleaning team wipe down light switches, the break room, door handles, and other areas that see a great deal of traffic.

You’re busy trying to run your business and build your empire. You don’t have time to disinfect the lobby and make sure that everyone has a clean desk. However, you can invest in the services of a professional cleaning crew. 

Contact GreenPro NYC to learn more about our commercial services and see how we can keep your entire office clean and as germ-free as possible. We offer customized services, and we’re happy to provide you with disinfecting and general cleaning services. Call us today at (212) 457-8858 to learn more about our services and schedule your appointment.

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