Surrounding yourself with a clean environment has plenty of benefits both for our physical and mental well-being. Not only that but keeping a clean environment is always a good idea because it keeps the place looking attractive.
If you neglect the cleanliness of your environment, then there can be plenty of detrimental side effects. This also applies to the cleanliness of your office space.
If you don’t stay on top of things, then you can end up getting a lot of unwanted side effects. One of which is the loss of employee productivity. Thus, keeping the office clean is you investing in the productivity of your employees.
There are several ways that a clean workplace is manifesting a more productive workplace:
Increased Focus on Work
If a workplace isn’t clean, then it’s likely that it also isn’t very well-organized. All that clutter and mess is not something that will help people improve their focus. In fact, it’s definitely hindering the work progress of everyone in the office.
It’s going to be super inconvenient for the employees to work on their jobs when their environment does not provide the atmosphere to foster that. Thus, you should clean the office so as not to take the focus of employees away from their work.
Their work desks are the places that, if kept cluttered, are going to distract them the most. Therefore, if there’s one particular place to focus the decluttering efforts in, then it should be the desks.
Reduced Stress
Productivity is a fickle thing. An employee’s level of productivity depends on their mental balance and surroundings. Thus, if you want to be able to improve their productivity in the office, then you should focus on ways that will help them mentally. One way to do that is by looking at stress relief efforts.
Stress is a major factor that affects the productivity of people in the office. Aside from appropriate task delegation, cleanliness in the office is a simple but underrated way of maintaining lower stress levels in the office.
It helps people not feel like everything is closing in on them, especially if the office is cluttered.
Improved Morale
Speaking of stress relief and mental improvement, a clean office also helps in improving the overall morale of the people in the office.
Given the fact that employees spend hours upon hours in the office, the office environment has a say in the morale of an employee, since they’re exposed to it for so long. If you don’t keep the office clean, the morale in the office can go down quickly.
If you keep it messy, then the employees won’t feel like the professionals that they are, since their environment isn’t professional itself. Thus, their work quality is reduced in turn.
Impacts of Company Culture
Aside from the physical environment affecting the overall productivity in the workplace, there is also the unseen sort of environment in the office. In particular, it is called the company culture, and the appearance of the company affects the culture as well.
How you treat your office is how the office feels like it should treat itself. If your physical environment is dirty and unprofessional, then the cultural environment will morph and adhere to that type of culture as well.
Since this is the environment you’ve set up, it will not be attractive to a lot of people. Plus, it’s not something that encourages great work, so people don’t feel the need to work well.
Reduced Sickness
Flu season is a huge source of unproductivity in the office since people are taking sick leaves often. You want your employees to be as healthy as possible so that they can do their job well. At the same time, you want to reduce the absences of your employees in the office.
If they’re sick, then they have no choice but to be absent. The office itself might be helping with the increase of sick leaves as well. Of course, a dirtier environment means a healthier home for bacteria and germs to take root. People are more likely to get sick when they’re in a dirty environment.
Fewer Distractions
People’s attention spans are constantly being dragged away from work. There’s a distraction from their phones, the computer, from coworkers, and even from higher-ups.
These are all working against them when it comes to their productivity. With a cluttered and messy office, it’s just another distraction piled on to some others. Thus, you should work on reducing that as much as possible.
Keeping the office clean should not be the direct responsibility of your employees. Sure, they should keep their desks tidy, but that should be the extent of it. Otherwise, they’re being taken away from more important work that they should be doing.
Boosts Creativity
In most industries, creativity is a valued trait in employees. It helps them figure out unique solutions to business problems. It’s a great way of finding out new and innovative ways of managing the work that they do and so on.
If they’re not creative, then they’ll be stuck in their old ways. Unable to find better ways to handle business.
A clean environment helps foster this skill of creativity that people should want. On the other hand, a dirty office hinders creativity. It makes it hard to think creatively when fundamentals like cleanliness aren’t taken care of.
Increases Employee Retention
For any company, employee retention is an indicator of how well the management takes care of its employees. If too many employees don’t stay, then there must be several reasons as to why that is the case. However, the lack of cleanliness is surely a big factor as well.
The poor physical environment will not make people want to stay. Thus, leading to lower employee retention for your company overall.
Focusing on the overall well being of your employees is a good idea for the longevity of your organization. Although keeping the office clean often should be basic when it comes to managing the organization, many still neglect it. Don’t neglect the cleanliness of your office so that the productivity of your office from all aspects doesn’t diminish.
About the Author
Raymond Chiu is the Director of Operations for MaidSailors.com, a trusted office cleaning services in NYC. Maid Sailors offers its customers unrivaled office cleaning services that can address even the toughest cleaning needs. Matched with affordable prices, Maid Sailors is your best partner in helping you turn your office into a work-friendly workplace.
