With optimism surrounding a successful vaccine rollout in the UK and hopes that life will soon start returning to normal, many workers will be eager to return to their workplaces and reconnect with their colleagues, but there will be inevitably some anxieties around the safety of doing so. As employers begin to map out their return to the workplace, enhanced cleaning and hygiene procedures must continue to stay at the top of the agenda to ensure a safe and successful return.
Bringing cleaning into the spotlight
Pre-COVID, cleaning and hygiene tasks were typically been carried out after-hours, but the perspective of cleaning teams has shifted – their presence during the day is not only key in ensuring safe and hygienic spaces, but in restoring employee confidence too.
A recent survey carried out by Harris Interactive on behalf of Kimberley Clark showed that, when asked what the most important factors influencing a return to the workplace were, 62 per cent of people said that seeing cleaning in action was important and 58 per cent wanted cleaning and disinfecting procedures communicated clearly.
Having cleaning teams working alongside your employees and building users not only provides staff with much-needed confidence but also adds an extra level of flexibility to fast-paced environments where daily changes are inevitable.
New ways of working
As the workplace has dramatically changed, so too has the cleaning industry. To keep up with daily changes in the workplace and ensure high levels of cleaning and hygiene, adopting new innovative approaches can make life much easier for facilities managers.
One such approach is data-driven cleaning, which at its core, is a technology solution that empowers cleaners to act on real-time information to work more efficiently and ensure an even higher quality of cleaning, all while enabling managers to make better decisions to optimise operations.
The technology uses sensors to collect data on building usage, which allows cleaning teams to identify high traffic and touchpoint areas, which spaces have been used, and when they need cleaning. The technology can also notify cleaning teams of anything from soap to toilet roll shortages. Real-time data also allows managers to continually identify any changes to building usage and adapt the cleaning resource as and when it is required.
This is a dramatic shift away from the traditional static-cleaning schedule, which often leads to cleaning fast-paced workplaces into a frustrating guessing game.
Backing it all up with science
We know that communication of cleaning and hygiene procedures can be key in restoring employee confidence; however, it is possible to go one step further and show employees that their workspace not only looks clean but is clean.
ATP Testing is a science-backed method that allows cleaning staff to verify the effectiveness of cleaning procedures by measuring the levels of microbe’s present on a surface. Results are analysed and scored against a matrix to determine how clean a surface truly is.
Sharing results provides employees with an extra level of confidence in the safety of their workplace and demonstrates a commitment to open communication – something that is invaluable in a time of uncertainty.
Find out more
Here at Andron, we like to practice what we preach, and we have already helped many of our clients return to their offices through our industry-leading cleaning solutions. Find out more about how we can help you safely return to the office, by getting in touch today: Contact Us