Only 61% of UK office workers wash their hands after going to the toilet

18% will do a quick hand wash, 14% occasionally wash their hands, and 7% admitted to not washing their hands at all.

Survey data also uncovered that women are more hygienic than men after using the toilet with 66% happily washing their hands after a visit to the bathroom, compared to 53% of men.

When comparing the age groups, 11% of the younger generation (18-24-year olds) confessed to not washing their hands after the toilet, making this statistic above the overall average of 7%. 

77% of respondents think that it is highly unhygienic to have a dog in the office. This statistic was significantly higher amongst the over 65’s with 85%.

2% of employees with a dog in the office have considered leaving their job to be in a dog-free environment.  

Eating at your desk isn’t uncommon especially for 26% of office workers who remain at their desk to eat at least 1-3 times per week. 

On average, around half of 18-64-year olds will move away from their desk to eat, leaving the other half to remain seated occasionally. 

Despite the popularity of eating at your desk, only 11% of workers will clean theirs properly. 38% will do a ‘quick clean’ – put snack wrappers in the bin or empty the crumbs from their keyboard, while 45% are spotless eaters and never need to clean up after. However, there is still 7% of employees who will leave it to someone else to clean.

The survey exposed people’s opinions around hot-desking, and 6% of those asked were under the impression that all shared desks were cleaned after use. 12% of respondents who regularly hot desk will only work on the desk if they know it’s been cleaned first. 38% share a strong opinion that communal desks are germ-infested because you never know who’s been sat there.

When it comes to who is responsible for the cleanliness of the office, 6% revealed that it should be left to the cleaner as it’s not their problem. For 56% of respondents, they admitted to helping clean up as it would eventually annoy them, and 38% confessed that they reluctantly clean if they had to.