Office Cleaning Matters
A trend across Europe has emerged where we are seeing office workers and cleaning operatives working closer than ever before. Many companies are asking their cleaners to operate within ‘normal working hours’ to reduce costs such as lighting and heating costs.
Tork manufacturer SCA commissioned an extensive study into the relationship between office workers and cleaners. The purpose of the study was to find out how comfortable office workers are with day time cleaning hours.
“The role of cleaning staff is shifting overnight from being an invisible force to an integrated part of where they work,” SCA senior product manager Charlotte Branwhite said. “We carried out this study to help facilities service managers understand the challenges of daytime cleaning. Hopefully this will help them to streamline the process of switching over from cleaning at night.”
The Tork study revealed that office workers felt comfortable and relaxed around certain cleaning tasks however were uneasy about other cleaning tasks being performed during office hours.
For example – 89% of office workers said they were more than happy for consumables such as toilet paper and hand soap to be refilled during office hours. But 60% responded negatively regarding office carpets being vacuumed within the office hours. 57% of respondents also felt uncomfortable if their desk space was being cleaned whilst they were working.
The study also outlined how office workers regarded cleaning teams. Over 77% of office workers stated that they greet their cleaning operatives at their offices whereas 0.6% said they never have. Only 50% of office workers claimed to actually know the cleaners names.
A total of 49% of employees wanted cleaners to interact with them as co-workers, whilst only 14% said they preferred cleaners to remain in the background without interfering with their work.
A very positive 84% of respondents stated that workplace cleaning has a direct impact on the quality of their working life. 71% of respondents stated they believed that cleaning has a positive effect on the companies probability.
A total of 3,056 office workers in the UK, Sweden, France, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands were questioned in the survey, which was carried out by Questback.
Source – Cleaning Matters