A survey conducted among French companies has shown the importance of work cleanliness.
The results of the survey were pretty much as expected but at least they confirmed that in the office, people prefer it when it’s clean! Beyond this obvious finding, the survey also noted that a clean environment has other, less visible consequences.
Based on a questionnaire involving 1,000 workers aged 18 to 65, and spending at least 60 per cent of their time at the office, the survey found cleanliness had real consequences for staff wellbeing and efficiency. It showed 94 per cent of French wage earners consider cleanliness as a promoter of a good atmosphere at work, and 93 per cent of them feel more motivated when their working environment is clean. Also, 85 per cent of the employees surveyed felt cleanliness helped them to perform better, and 80 per cent then thought it reduced their stress level.
The contrary was also true. While cleanliness was good for wellbeing and performance, its absence - including the presence of dirt and untidiness - had been a source of conflict for no fewer than half the workers surveyed. This situation was noted particularly in some workplace arrangements such as flexible offices, where workers don’t have fixed a fixed work station of their own. In such cases, the proportion of workers who reported having been in conflict situations shot up to 62 per cent.
“Tensions arise in those cases because it’s always the same people who do the cleaning,” was one conclusion.
Among the 20 areas covered the most critical were the toilets, the kitchen corner, the canteen, the work stations and the computer equipment. Due to hygiene problems encountered in company washrooms, one French worker out of two prefers not to use them.
Although 86 per cent of office employees consider cleanliness to be the employer’s responsibility, 95 per cent of these same employees also agree staff should assume some responsibility for maintaining their working environment clean. The solution was therefore to call on the sense of civic responsibility of everyone.
In fact, 81 per cent of employees surveyed thought some kind of penalty should be introduced to punish those co-workers that don’t behave considerately in regard to hygiene and cleanliness.
(www.europeancleaningjournal.com)
