Flu can be a challenging working season as it causes people to be off work and less productive at work. Everyone has the same surfaces and utensils, and germs can easily run around. But apart from the minutiae of managing cleanliness and the welfare of your staff, keeping your office free from germs during flu season matters. This blog will help you keep your office clean and reduce germs.

Why It’s Important to Keep Your Office Germ-Free

Flu and colds are particularly contagious during flu season. The two siblings replied. Shows that viruses like the flu and cold spread easily in homes, offices, and other enclosed spaces. Due to daily contact, touching, and sharing, offices are among the germiest environments. Germs can persist on items for hours or days, so humans can unknowingly transfer them on themselves. The result? The flu can cause sick days, job output decreases, and workplace flu epidemics.

Common Office Germ Hotspots

Before we dive into solutions, let’s take a look at the familiar places in the office where germs tend to accumulate:

Door knobs and handles: Everybody uses them. Therefore, they are the places where germs may be most likely found.
Tangible items: These include printers, photocopiers, and telephones that many users and few cleaners use. Hotel desks and keyboards are usually laden with papers and personal effects, and keyboards are touched frequently, acting as vectors of germs.
Coffee/Canteen/Pantry: The room where meals are prepared and eaten often acts like a breeding ground for germs in the office.

Tips for Keeping Your Office Germ-Free

Now that we have seen the risk areas likely to be a source of the flu let’s look at ways to reduce the number of flu germs in your office environment.

Encourage Hand Hygiene

This is mainly because handwashing is the easiest way to prevent germs. Remind personnel to wash their hands with soap before returning to work, especially after using the lavatory, handling food and drinks, and using such equipment. Place good hand-taint facilities near doorways and between conference and break rooms.

Regular Cleaning of Surfaces

Always carry sanitiser and wash your hands often. Cleaning doorknobs, desks, keyboards, and equipment frequently is important. Hire a cleaner or train an office worker to clean regularly. Just make sure your disinfection wipe or spray destroys flu viruses. Don’t forget phone booths, lamp switches, and the workplace kitchen.

Promote Respiratory Hygiene

Encourage workers to use a tissue or arm bend when sneezing or coughing. Place tissues in convenient office locations and provide garbage containers for spent tissues. Consider hanging posters around the office to remind you of such statements throughout flu season.

Encourage Sick Employees to Stay Home

To manage the virus in the office, staff with flu-like symptoms should not work. This reduces contact and helps avoid the flu outbreak. This can be supported by more permissive sick policies that encourage employees to use personal days and rest instead of working.

Improve Air Circulation

Coronavirus spreads easily under low ventilation. Open the windows or utilise air conditioners to bring fresh air into your office. Some air purifiers eliminate airborne viruses and germs.

Keeping Your Office Germ-Free is a Team Effort

Cleanliness and maintaining an odourless environment free from flu season germs go beyond the janitors’ purview. People should work or act together to promote health and safety at the workplace. Remind your coworkers to clean their surroundings, wear masks or gloves, wash their hands regularly, and be healthy. Eliminate germs in the air to stay clean and healthy as everyone gets ready for flu season.
While flu season is unavoidable, a germ-infested office is not the best way to commence it.