Over the past year, COVID-19 has sent the world spiraling. The impact of the pandemic has gone beyond health risks – offices that have transitioned to work from home have had mixed results, and while some companies are thriving, others are struggling to meet the demands of their day-to-day work. Antimicrobial solutions can offer an ideal way to combat fears of returning to the office.
At first, many celebrated working from home – rather than having to take the daily commute, workers have set up home offices. While there are benefits to this lifestyle, the level of communication between workers has stifled as it has moved from in-person communication to video calls and teleconferencing.
A year later, many companies are taking the first steps in moving back to office spaces. But doing this incurs risk of its own: how can companies convince workers to come back without reaching herd immunity? Is it worth it? What are the best strategies for keeping my employees safe?
MicrobeCare™ in the Office: Antimicrobial Solutions for Business Problems
Surfaces have long been known to carry dangerous microorganisms and spread illness throughout schools, offices, and restaurants. MicrobeCare™ is an EPA registered antimicrobial solution that has been successfully leveraged in healthcare to stop the spread of contaminants with minimal application needed. This same solution can be used in office spaces to build confidence in going back to work.
While special technology is required to apply MicrobeCare™ to an office, downtime is minimal. Employees can begin working as quickly as 15 minutes after surfaces have been coated, which has made it an ideal option for those working in facilities where operations may be running throughout the day and night. Using a MicrobeCare™ partner like Clean Technologies is the best way to approach this.
Why Apply Antimicrobial Solutions to Your Office?
According to Forbes, teleworking has decreased from 35% of workers to 21.2% of workers since the pandemic began. Even as COVID rates spiked towards the end of fall, workers continued to go back to the office, largely out of necessity. Not every industry can afford to be purely remote.
Bringing workers back into the office after a year spent at home can be a tough sell – antimicrobial solutions like MicrobeCare™ can not only convince them that you’re taking the best available measures to protect their health, but also improve their work performance.
Absenteeism
In the first days of the pandemic, many offices were still open while waiting for more information. During this period, absenteeism became a massive, if not anticipated, problem for business owners. Americans were preparing for the worst, and mitigating their risk by staying at home.
As offices begin to open, the same issue is likely to reemerge. While some offices are using a hybrid model to bring back their workforce, your company will have to build trust in order to convince employees to return. Antimicrobial care ensures that you are doing everything in your power to keep them safe as they return to the office, and can be used in tandem with other strategies to keep their morale high.
Presenteeism
An employee who spends all of their time in an office worrying about illness will be less attentive, efficient, and motivated. They will spend their time avoiding contact with others, and be more focused on avoiding others rather than meeting the bottom line.
This response isn’t a sign of a bad worker – it’s a sign of being human. Absenteeism and presenteeism go hand in hand. You’ll only be able to convince these workers that it is safe to return to the office when their fears have been acknowledged and responded to. Ensuring best practices are maintained in the office to promote health will ease the move back into office work.
Health and Wellness
Did you know that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of common cleaners is four times higher than suggested?
Most of the germs that antibacterial chemicals remove are harmless to our health – when you overuse disinfectants beyond the guidelines, the cleaner can actually do more damage to your health than most common bacteria. While many common cleaners have shown to be effective against COVID-19, the overuse of these can lead to health problems, and the possibility of costly litigation.
In a recent study involving an ICU, MicrobeCare™ has been shown to be extremely effective in keeping surfaces clean over a long period of time. 95.5% of ICU surfaces that were coated with MicrobeCare™ tested culture-negative 6 weeks after treatment, and the surfaces that tested positive showed a radically decreased mean colony count compared to untreated surfaces. MicrobeCare™ only has to be applied occasionally, rather than consistently. It is non-toxic, and removes the need to frequently apply harsh disinfectants.
MicrobeCare™ Gives Businesses Peace of Mind
Antimicrobial cleaners can provide long-term health benefits over a long period of time – MicrobeCare™ is a simple solution that requires minimal application with maximum results.
In the era of the coronavirus, your business needs every tool in its arsenal to not only combat illness, but the mental stress that follows suit. Clean Technologies is a national provider with the equipment to quickly treat your office with MicrobeCare™ so your team can get back to work. Contact us today for more information about our services.
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