commercial cleaning
Desks and office equipment are in fact a breeding ground for germs and bacteria. For example, a toilet seat has on average 47 microbes per square inch compared to a telephone that has around 25,000 and a keyboard with 3,300. This is hardly surprising when you consider that toilets are cleaned regularly, but most people don't think about their office desk and the equipment on it. As a result, there can be up to 10 million bacteria on the typical desk, and this can include Ecoli, MRSA Winter Vomiting bugs and now of course Swine Flu.
Regular sanitising of IT equipment and hard surfaces is a must to reduce the spread of bugs, viruses and diseases. Also, taking time to educate employees about the personal and business risks will encourage better personal hygiene and working practices.
Waste Management
Recycling is now an important consideration for all companies who are under legislative, corporate and social pressure to reduce the impact their operation has on the environment and wider community. Therefore, there is an opportunity to take an integrated approach with the office cleaning operation to adopt effective waste management procedures to keep time and cost pressures to a minimum.
Over the past few years, the cost of dumping rubbish at landfill sites has been increasing 25 per cent annually, and this is unlikely to change moving forward. Therefore, there are wider cost savings available for those businesses that can achieve high levels of recycling. Companies can also receive money back for waste paper, so this represents an added kick back.
By integrating waste management with an existing office cleaning operation, companies can benefit from added value resulting from efficient waste segregation and better-managed processes to make significant time and cost savings. It is possible to tap into the expertise of office cleaning companies to increase levels of recycled office and operational waste including paper, confidential paper, ink cartridges and food waste.
Outsourcing And A Partnership Approach
Some companies may consider that they can reduce costs by taking their office cleaning operation back in-house. However, organisations should not underestimate the knowledge and expertise possessed by office cleaning companies and the ability this provides to focus on core activity.
Most office cleaning companies will have access to specialist cleaning equipment that offers added efficiency benefits. Battery powered, low noise vacuum cleaners are essential for daytime cleaning operations, whilst microfiber cloths not only reduce cleaning time and improve results, but also minimise the use of polish and other cleaning agents.
There are also many hidden costs associated with in-house office cleaning operations. For example, companies will need to organise appropriate training for internal office cleaning staff and also take into consideration holiday cover. Furthermore, companies will not have the same buying power as office cleaning companies, so equipment and cleaning product costs will also be higher as a result.
Office cleaning companies often widen opportunities to benefit from a multi-service solution. Many office cleaning companies are either part of a larger group or have partners in place to deliver an integrated service offering. Therefore, companies can access a wide range of complementary services to help achieve additional cost savings.
Simply slashing office cleaning budgets is not necessarily the most effective means of lowering overheads, so it is worth taking a step back and considering all the options available and what issues need to be considered. What is important is that whatever steps are taken do not negatively impact on a business' core activity.
