Why company reputation can hinge on sanitation

Protecting your business' reputation isn’t just about offering great customer service. We often overlook the personal hygiene of our staff unless bad practice is displayed right in front of our face. Trusting staff to regularly wash hands and surfaces, we go about our daily duties unaware of what harmful bacteria surrounds us.

So what happens if you’re a restaurant owner and a customer picks up a virus from your staff, wrongly thinking they contracted food poisoning? Or you work in a school and suddenly pupils begin to fall ill one by one, leaving parents concerned about the state of hygiene? 

With the recent Ebola outbreak, we’ve become more aware than ever of how fast infections spread. Whilst it may not be an issue in the UK, it could be in the not-too-distant future and in the meantime there are plenty of other bugs and bacteria that threaten to ruin your productivity and brand reputation. 

For example, the norovirus is the most common cause of stomach bugs across the UK. It affects between 600,000 and 1 million people per year, according to data from the NHS. Not only can this virus stay alive on surfaces for several days, it can also live in the body undetected for 12 to 48 hours, meaning you and your staff could be spreading this virus before you even know you have it.

How could this harm your business?

• It could cause a staff shortage, leading to a loss in takings and bad customer service.
• Customers may assume your premises are unclean. This could lead to your customers having negative feelings towards your business and they will avoid you in the future.
• Decrease in productivity as staff work whilst recovering. The physical symptoms may seem to have worn off, but the body takes much longer to recover from such a violent vomiting bug.
• Sick days incurred by staff cost the UK £29 million per year, so bad hygiene in your workplace could cost you dearly.

The norovirus isn’t the only nasty bug that could be lurking in your establishment. If you notice staff suffering from flu-like symptoms or upset stomachs, it could be a reflection on your team’s personal hygiene. These illnesses are easily spread, so it takes a focused effort to eradicate these infections from the workplace.

How can we combat viruses?

The NHS recommends regular hand washing, surface cleaning and avoiding the sharing of towels as their main advice to stop viruses in their tracks. But during a busy shift these parts of our routine can easily be forgotten. Whilst it can be difficult to enforce these rules in the workplace, you can make it easier for staff to work basic hygiene measures into their routine. 

Easy-to-use hand sanitisers, such as wall mounted waterless solutions, can help to eradicate the threat of infection in the workplace. They’re the sort of tool that you use naturally upon passing, rather than taking yourself away from your desk at regular intervals to wash your hands. It becomes something you do without thinking about.

Sanitisation methods placed around the workplace, along with a strong health and safety strategy, prevent the spreading of infection and protect your workforce and reputation.

To many, it may seem like a natural reaction that we have every day, but the fact is we don’t all have the same hygiene standards. Implementing better sanitation methods in your workplace can teach people what is required of them and help them get into a routine. Hygiene is a 24/7 practice that you have a responsibility to educate your staff on. Instilling these standards into your workforce can help them avoid bringing infection into the workplace. If they’re hygienic out of work, they won’t be picking up infections and passing them on to customers and staff when they’re on shift.