The Importance of Clean Toilets in the Office

Washing hands inside the office restroom
The impact of clean restrooms is bigger than you think.

One of the sought after places in the office is the toilet. This is where people get to relieve their upset stomach, wash their faces, clean their hands, urinate, or simply chat with their officemates. It serves as a safe haven, a sanctuary after long hours of sitting on a chair, having a busy day doing documents and working to reach that quota. And a dirty toilet could compromise this so-called “sanctuary”. 

According to the 2017 Healthy Hand Washing Survey, 89 percent of Americans believe the condition of a workplace toilet is one indicator of how a company values its workforce. Having a clean toilet won’t go unnoticed by the employees. It could either motivate or discourage your employees to work. Having a clean toilet would help the state of mind of your employees, improve their health condition, lessen anxiety and leave a good impression to visitors of your business whether it is a client or just a family member.

However, the toilets are sometimes at the end of the priorities of some business owners. They would be more focused on having cleaner and neater work areas rather than dry and sanitized toilets.

But why does the cleanliness of office toilets matter? The reason is that it is a part of the workplace. It may not be where the work is done but this is one of the visited places in the office aside from the work area.

Let us take a look at some of the other reasons why it is important to keep the office toilets clean.

1. Safety

Toilets are breeding grounds for disease-causing pathogens. Due to its moist environment, it attracts harmful germs and bacteria that could cause illness at contact. In a study conducted on “Microbial Biogeography of Public Restroom Surfaces”, it is found out that there are over 70,000 types of bacteria and viruses in public restrooms. Some of these are influenza, fecal bacteria, salmonella, and norovirus. If left unclean, people who used it could pass around the bacteria and germs that would cause a lot of people to get sick.

A clean toilet is a safe toilet. Maintaining the cleanliness of the toilets regularly would lessen the attacks of the disease-causing germs which could mean happy and healthy employees. Ensuring your employees a germ-free environment could improve the motivation of your employees to work.

Aside from germs and bacteria causing diseases, clean bathrooms could also prevent injuries. Unexpected falls or tumbles and any other accidents caused by unclean and disarranged installations may be prevented if your toilet is clean and dry.

2. Work Environment    

Who does not want a clean and fresh smelling workplace? 

Toilets are important in an office. It is a part of the workplace. A survey showed a result that a person spends an average of 30 minutes daily in a bathroom. Using those 30 minutes in a smelly toilet could negatively affect the morale of your employees. Imagine the discomfort and uneasiness, the stress and anxiety you’ll feel, the lowered performance of the employees all due to lowering the morale because of dirty toilets. Unclean toilets could make a big impact on their mood and motivation to be productive.

Filth from toilets brings out bacteria in the air that could affect a person’s wellbeing. These bacteria could contaminate a person’s body causing different illnesses such as headaches and skin ailments. Aside from ailments and zero motivation, dirty and smelly toilets could make your employees look for another toilet. Who wants to relieve themselves in an unclean restroom? This undesirable condition of a restroom would consume your employees’ time that should have been spent productively. 

Regularly checking the janitorial maintenance in charge of the toilets clean would help boost the motivation of your employees, increase productivity, and help with their wellbeing.

3. Marketing

Toilets say a lot about a business. A lot of people may come and go during business hours. Some are clients, some are dealers, and some are just visitors. Most of the people that come would visit your toilet more than once during their visit. And their experience with this one visit could leave a lasting impression on them. You would not want to have filthy as an adjective next to your business name. A clean toilet may project either a desirable or foul image to your clients depending on how well maintained it is.

Keeping your toilets is not a tough job. Hire a good maintenance team to maintain the sanitation of your toilets. If you’re still not sure how to hire a good cleaning maintenance team, here are some questions you ought to ask before signing the deal

4. Time-Saving

Going to a filthy toilet could be a long topic for discussion for your employees. Complaints on how dirty, smelly, and unpleasant the toilet is could be one of the reasons why your employees are losing their time. These lengthy chats could have been spent productively if not for those unusable toilets.

Aside from long chats and complaints, an unclean toilet would increase the time spent by your employees in a restroom. They would spend extra minutes making sure they did not get themselves dirty. It could also cause reluctance for the employee to use them, thus they will find other usable toilets to use around the area of your office. This will also be a cause of loss in time that should have been used for work.

It may seem that the toilets are a discreet part of the office and business owners often forget to take notice of how important it is. However, the effects of having unclean and unusable toilets could have a negative impact on the health, morale, and productivity of your employees. Wanting the best for the hygiene department of your office may be a challenge but it is rewarding for everyone.

Keeping the toilets clean could be a task you can do yourselves but there are companies that offer top-notch cleaning services like ours. We have trained our staff to provide quality cleaning services that would guarantee 100% satisfaction. Feel free to contact us for more information.