How pleasant do your organisation’s washroom facilities smell? It might be an indelicate question, but it’s an important one. This is because failing to provide, stock and maintain adequate washroom facilities can have a negative impact on your business.
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1. Staff Motivation and Morale
Health and Safety Executive guidance underlines that, as an employer, you have a duty to provide so-called ‘welfare facilities’, which include clean, properly ventilated and well-equipped washrooms. Among other things, it is important to help prevent the spread of infections. Beyond any legal requirement, however, it is also an element of staff morale to have pleasant, hygienic and regularly maintained washrooms. This demonstrates that basic individual needs are taken seriously by the organisation and that you care about your employees’ comfort.
2. Repeat Business
An unpleasant bathroom can have the effect of putting people off from returning to your business. This is especially true in a customer-facing business, such as a retail store, where first impressions can make the difference between a customer becoming a regular visitor or going elsewhere. Use the washroom space as an opportunity to provide a positive sensory experience. At the very least, ensure you have an effective air-freshening system in place and draw up a regular cleaning schedule. Optional things you might like to consider are hand lotions and vending services.
3. Company Reputation
If your company washrooms are available to visiting clients, customers or other members of the public, you are risking reputational damage if they fall below acceptable standards. This means ensuring the area is regularly cleaned and stocked with such things as soap, paper handtowels or working dryers, ample toilet paper and bins for both normal waste and sanitary products. People tend not to remember clean washrooms, but they are likely to tell others about particularly grim facilities. As a business, you should do all you can to keep comments about your organisation positive. A washroom service provider Gloucestershire such as http://simplehygienesolutions.co.uk/ can help ensure that your facilities are always fresh and welcoming for everyone that might want to use them.
Washroom hygiene may not be something that you spend much time thinking about. However, it is one area in which failing to act can harm your business. After all, no one likes to use a malodorous bathroom!