The Value of Clean Series: The Cost of Reduced Productivity

Improve Your Bottom Line Where You Haven’t Looked Before

We all know healthy employees are more productive; healthy people are far less likely to call in sick. Sick day absenteeism increases operating costs through lost productivity, increased overtime pay, and a decrease in the morale of healthy workers caused by the additional stress of performing the missing person’s work. According to data collected by the ISSA, a person working while ill will have a 3-8% drop in productivity.

Of course, nobody wants a sick person to come to work and potentially infect the rest of the office. The presence of sick employees has many potential negative impacts as well. This ‘presenteeism’ results in more people becoming ill and taking sick days causing an even greater loss of productivity. In addition to their decreased productivity, the presence of ill employees can increase the frequency of accidents, equipment breakage, errors in judgement and interpersonal conflict.

The negative effects and cost implications of both absenteeism and presenteeism can be mitigated by having programs in place to increase health, and reduce the spread of infection. The most effective way to decrease the spread of any illness is to wash your hands regularly and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. In this way, a comprehensive cleaning program will increase your company’s productivity and, in the long-term not only save you money, but make you money.

To learn more about how cleanliness can improve your bottom line, come back next week for the fourth instalment in ‘The Value of Clean Series’, The Effect of Employee Illness on Output and Sales.