A staffroom of some sort is less a luxury and more a workplace essential. For obvious reasons, members of staff need somewhere around the office to take their breaks, eat their lunch and generally relax during their free time at work. But for equally obvious reasons, the staff room also tends to be one of the places around the office that gets the least time and attention when it comes to cleaning. As it is in use throughout the day and most people assume it is someone else’s responsibility, it has a tendency to descend into chaos in no time at all.
The thing is though, when it comes to staff rooms in which members of the workforce eat snacks, lunch or other meals, things can go from a little on the untidy side to downright unhygienic in no time at all. In the United Kingdom alone, the Food Standards Agency reports that approximately 5.5 million people every year suffer from some kind of food borne illness. Or to put it another way, this amounts to one in every 10 people – the same technically applying to one in every 10 members of your workforce.
There are of course endless different ways in which an individual can be sickened by any number of food borne illnesses. Nevertheless, one of the single most common of all is also the simplest to control – that being unhygienic environments where food is prepared or consumed. The problem being that the vast majority of people simply assume that things are fine, given the way in which they cannot physically see the bacteria around them. Nevertheless, just one single bacterium left to its own devices can become millions of extremely dangerous bacteria within the space of a few hours. Should these bacteria find their way into an unfortunate individual, they could become very sick indeed.
All of which highlights the importance of ensuring that staff rooms are kept not just tidy, but uniquely clean at all times. Staff members may be in the habit of perhaps keeping their belongings out of the way and contributing towards a tidy staff room, but the health and hygiene aspect of it may be something else entirely. As such, it is of critical importance for business owners and managers to be as proactive as possible when it comes to staff room hygiene, for the benefit of both the workforce and the business as a whole.
It doesn’t have to be difficult – simply by making the required supplies available at all times, you might be surprised how regularly they get used. The most obvious example being things like antibacterial wipes and sprays, accompanied by notices informing employees of their responsibility to use them each and every time they use the staff room. The key being to get the message across that it is a responsibility shared by everyone, as opposed to simply watched over by one or more individuals in charge.
After all, the workplace staff room is supposed to be a relaxing space staff members can enjoy – not somewhere that makes them ill and unable to attend work.