Fresh start

Cleaning staff have an essential role to play in a safe return to the workplace, says James Carver, Managing Director of OSC

With COVID restrictions easing, the first quarter of 2022 has seen workers returning to the office in unprecedented numbers. At the end of February, for example, the overall average footfall across the UK’s 63 largest city centres was only seven per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels.

The return to the office has been welcome news for businesses, with many implementing hybrid-working policies to encourage workers back into the office to avoid the long term impacts of remote working, such as burnout and declining productivity. However, as we adapt to the ‘new normal’, companies must also cater for the surge in demand for flexibility and convenience that has been prompted by working from home.

Google recently spent $1 billion on the purchase of a new refurbished office space in London, highlighting its commitment to offering higher-quality workspaces, an attitude which can be reflected amongst many businesses.

In 2022, workers are likely to seek an office space with the same comforts they benefitted from when working from home. In fact, 37 per cent of employees are still concerned about returning to the city due to office cleanliness and hygiene. And with questions over coronavirus still being raised, businesses are under more pressure than ever to keep their facilities up to scratch.

Therefore, for businesses to provide improved amenities and successfully tempt workers back into the office with assurances around quality and safety, investing in a strong cleaning team and cleaning regime will be crucial.

CLEANERS ARE ESSENTIAL WORKERS

As more and more workers return to the city, businesses will be looking to offer higher-quality workspaces with the adequate health and safety precautions. With 80 per cent of employees missing interactions with their colleagues, the provision of collaborative spaces in office facilities, to make sure that workers can make up for lost time, will be essential. However, with one in 10 people still feeling anxious about the prospect of a return to the office, an office’s cleaning team will be vital in keeping doubts at bay.

Indeed, 75 per cent of UK businesses are already implementing cleaning measures that go above and beyond the government’s guidance. This suggests that there is widespread consensus on the importance of an office’s cleaning regime. Enhanced measures will only reassure employees further and continue to protect them from any future resurgences of COVID.

More businesses are turning to cleaning techniques like fogging, for example – which involves the dispersion of the fine particles of liquid sanitisers or disinfectants to provide whole room decontamination. Whilst this method is something that would have only been carried out once per quarter prior to the pandemic, increasing this to a monthly process at minimum will help keep the office safe.

Investing in a knowledgeable cleaning team who can guide businesses through the most COVID-secure cleaning measures will help to ensure that employees can return to the office safely. Now that cleaning teams are tasked with the hefty role of protecting workers from the potential threat of Coronavirus, it is integral that we begin to view cleaners as essential workers.

QUALITY IS INTEGRAL

The effects of the pandemic have resulted in a huge shift in the attitudes of the UK’s workforce – and society as a whole – towards different work settings and environments. With recent research suggesting that 83 per cent of workers see hybrid-working as their ideal form of working, it is clear that flexible-working is here to stay beyond the pandemic.

The ‘new normal’ can create more difficulties for ensuring COVID safety in the workplace. Cleaning teams are faced with a more complex situation, as workers are returning to the office, the sharing of desks and differing schedules that see workers coming and going as they wish mean that businesses can no longer rely on pre-pandemic cleaning processes. It is crucial that a more rigorous and consistent approach is adopted.

Here at OSC we have developed a ‘flow-cleaning’ method, where our cleaning teams clean as they go rather than travelling to rooms individually, to ensure that no high touch areas are missed. Businesses must invest in a cleaning team which is adaptable to the ever-changing COVID situation, as cleaners provide an office’s first line of defence.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

While the easing of restrictions is a promising sign for businesses in all sectors, Coronavirus is still very much rife, and as we saw with the Omicron variant, the possibility of tightened restrictions in the future cannot be ruled out completely. Given this context, businesses will be keen to continue developing higher-quality facilities.

With 69 per cent of Britons more conscious than ever about cleanliness and hygiene, it will be up to a business’ cleaning team to ensure that workers remain invested in a return to the office. The provision of an experienced cleaning team will be integral to protecting workplaces from the ongoing threat of COVID and will also alleviate the concerns of workers over health and safety measures and hygiene.

The fact that cleaners play such a key role in providing a safe return to the office, and protecting workers from the spread of COVID, is proof that businesses must start to regard a knowledgeable cleaning team as essential workers.