



Filthy offices making us sick


Kate Jones

Revolting phones, desks and bathrooms are causing a $11.4 billion problem.

What filth lies behind these cubicles?

What filth lies behind these cubicles?

Ever wondered how valuable workplace cleanliness is? The answer is a whopping $11.4 billion.

That's how much Australian businesses fork out each year because of poor office hygiene. Of that cost, $5.4 billion accounts for lost earnings, with office workers taking 1.6 sick days a year because of substandard hygiene.

Employees spend 2.2 days a year doing such things as queuing for the cleanest toilet cubicle. 

A further $6 billion is lost because of delays caused by employees avoiding dirty work areas. Employees spend 2.2 days a year doing such things as queuing for the cleanest toilet cubicle or heading out of the office for coffee rather than making one in an unclean kitchen.

Carolyn Stephens prioritises cleanliness.

Carolyn Stephens prioritises cleanliness.

The research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, commissioned by cleaning company Initial Hygiene, shows one in four workers do not wash their hands after going to the toilet.

Filthy practices like this help create such dirty office hot spots as:

•     the phone, which is the most contaminated object on a desktop;

•     the desk, which on average has 400 times more bacteria than a typical toilet seat, and

•     bathroom door handles, common spots for salmonella and campylobacter, which can both cause gastroenteritis when germs are transferred from surface to hand.

What's the most disgusting place in your office? Post a comment and let us know.

Initial Hygiene spokeswoman Natalie Howard says businesses should pay more attention to cleanliness in the workplace.

“Almost every business has the opportunity to improve its bottom line simply by providing better hygiene facilities,” she says.

“Initial's report demonstrates that if employers invest the money in hygienic workplace facilities they will reap the benefit with a reduction in absenteeism and an increase in productivity.”

The study found that two in five employees said they would find greater job satisfaction if workplace hygiene improved. A clean office was so important to some workers that they said they would be willing to pay $240 a year (or $5 a week) for a more hygienic workplace.

Self-confessed “clean freak” Bree Robbins is acutely aware of the importance of hygiene in the workplace.

Robbins runs Queensland's Paddington Pups, a doggie daycare, pet grooming and puppy preschool business. Shortly after buying the company five years ago, Robbins researched thorough cleaning techniques and began using a human and pet-safe antibacterial fogging treatment commonly used in childcare centres.

She says the cost of constant cleaning was significant, but totally worthwhile.

“I have 10 staff and they've only had three sick days in the past 12 months,” Robbins says.

“If the dogs get ill, it doesn't spread throughout the pack.”

In the Adelaide offices of Cashflow Manager, employees have ready access to antibacterial wipes and hand sanitisers.

Marketing manager Carolyn Stephens says cleanliness is a top priority at the small business software company, particularly among call centre workers.

“We can't afford to have people off sick, especially in a call centre, because it puts a lot of pressure on the other staff,” she says.

Workers are encouraged to wipe their desks, phones and headsets and clean their hands after visiting the toilet or going on a smoke break.

“We've seen a definite improvement within the office, with people using the wipes and hand sanitiser,” Stephens says.

“It's not a significant amount of money to spent and it definitely helps.”

Tips for keeping a clean workplace:

•     Communicate the importance of a clean workplace with staff. Ask them to do simple things such as washing their hands after going to the toilet, coughing or sneezing.

•     Consider a staff cleaning roster to keep shared areas, particularly the kitchen, clean and tidy.

•     Make hand sanitisers easily accessible to kill germs and help prevent the spread of infection. Make sure employees know where they are.

•     Encourage staff to clean up after themselves in common areas such as kitchens, lunchrooms and meeting areas.

•     Ensure rubbish is regularly cleared and bins aren't overflowing.

•     Speak privately with any workers who are not maintaining clean standards. They may be unaware their practices are affecting their own and coworkers' health. Discuss strategies to keep their work areas tidier to keep them healthy and more productive.

40 comments so far

  • the thing I find really disgusting in our workplace bathroom is women peeing on the seat and not even cleaning it up and dirty foot prints on the seat? So gross with the fact that they have walked across a dirty bathroom floor and then stood on the seat with their dirty shoes. I have heard it happens in the male toilets as well.

    We have stuck signs in our toilets to tell staff how to use a toilet and staff still don't get it, I've even heard females leave the toilet without even washing their hands, when I have been in a cubicle. Scary

    job (just over broke)
    Date and time
    June 03, 2014, 9:45AM
    • Sounds like you work in a university. We have those signs all over the place, people are so damn stupid.

      Date and time
      June 03, 2014, 11:53AM
    • Nah, I don't work in a uni and I see exactly the same thing.

      I even routinely see blood on toilet seats, floors, walls. Seriously WTF are these women doing with their used tampons? Using them as lariats to swing about their heads?? Is menstrual hygiene not something we all should have mastered by age 13???

      Donna Joy
      Date and time
      June 03, 2014, 3:06PM
    • You are describing the use of loos that are common to Asia. If you had ever travelled there, you would know that their toilets are essentially porcelain holes in the floor that one has to squat over to do ones business. It may well have not been explained to expats from Asia that we don't stand on the seats, they are for bums.
      Also, in many countries throughout Asia, they don't flush the toilet paper with the human waste, it is binned after use, this also includes sanitary products.
      They are not being dirty : this is a cultural difference. It may well require that someone takes the time to teach them about western ways and that compliance is much appreciated. It is common in Asia for attendants to be employed to take care of "run off", especially in China.

      Date and time
      June 03, 2014, 5:21PM
    • Now those comments are REALLY scary! I have always assumed that women were more attuned to cleanliness than men, MOST of whom do not wash their hands after using the toilet.

      Yes, I have often encountered filthy cubicles in men's toilets with urine, faeces, and toilet paper all over the seat and floor, not to mention the footprints on the toilet seat (WHY?) or people who can't be bothered to flush (it is not that hard).

      Toilet etiquette, basic hygiene, and personal cleanliness are not difficult concepts, and should have been fully mastered by the age of four at the latest.

      Date and time
      June 03, 2014, 6:59PM
    • Hey travelled


      Not sure if you're aware (not sure of your gender), but most sanitary waste in Aussie office blocks is also binned after use and is not flushed: we have specially designed, clearly marked sanitary bins for the very purpose of disposing of this waste.

      That does not (and will never!) explain why said sanitary products need to be flung about with restless abandon from the time they depart a female's body and the time they make it into the bin provided.

      It's not a "cultural difference": I would not assume that it is only non-Aussies making this kind of mess. It is people being dirty, plain and simple.

      Donna Joy
      Date and time
      June 04, 2014, 1:54PM
  • Tell you what makes me sick, the inane, inaccurate reference to "bathrooms", when you mean the toilet. Seriously, l work in a school, adolescent girls refer to the "bathroom", because its "rude" to say toilet. Mind you, they are able to use a string of profanities. There is no shower, no bath, and this is not America. So tuen of your cell phone and keep outta the bloody bathroom!

    Gold Coast
    Date and time
    June 03, 2014, 10:00AM
    • They say bathroom because most women do more than just toilet in there :)

      Donna Joy
      Date and time
      June 03, 2014, 3:02PM
    • (Slightly off topic) and now far too many people in Australia refer to the "elevator" instead of the lift, "bathrobe" instead of dressing gown, "garbage" or "trash" instead of rubbish, "movie" instead of film, and so on; not to mention mispronouncing "kilometre" and "schedule" (among others) presumably all learnt from US cinema releases.

      As a result, correct English is going down the toilet!

      Notwithstanding the above, PLEASE wash you hands and keep toilets and kitchens clean and tidy. Otherwise we may be wiped out like the Golgafrinchams....

      Date and time
      June 03, 2014, 8:28PM
  • This sort of tosh gets trotted out periodically. Yes, we absolutely should wash our hands after using the bathroom. But counting germs on the desktop and the phone is ignorant nonsense, as are statements like "we've had less sick days in our company of 10 since we started gargling with Dettol (and since I switched to red socks)". You know that 90% of the cells in the human body are bacteria, right?
    There's a reason that Douglas Adams consigned phone sanitisers to the 3rd spaceship...

    What a load
    Date and time
    June 03, 2014, 10:39AM

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