Personal hygiene and cleanliness at work
It’s always a good idea to remind your employees that maintaining personal hygiene in the workplace is crucial for fostering a healthy, professional, and comfortable environment. This entails making them aware that proper hygiene isn’t just about looking sharp, it’s about respecting those around us and creating a space where everyone feels at ease and protected from illnesses.
From fresh breath and clean hands to keeping workspaces tidy, everyday small habits can make a big difference. In work settings where employees share close quarters and interact frequently in person, poor personal hygiene could affect productivity, team dynamics, and even your company’s reputation.
We’ll unpack why personal hygiene matters at work and recommend products you can offer to help maintain hygiene standards in your facility. We'll also guide you through how managers can address any issues in a respectful, supportive, and solution-focused way.
Why is personal hygiene important at work?
Personal hygiene is essential in the workplace for various reasons, from health and safety to encouraging a more positive and respectful team environment.
Health and safety
Good hygiene helps prevent the spread of germs and illnesses, keeping both your employees and customers or visitors healthy.
For example, if someone doesn't wash their hands properly after using the restroom, they can spread germs to door handles, shared equipment, or communal food areas. Or an employee who comes to work without regularly bathing and brushing their teeth may carry bacteria that could contribute to the spread of infections.
Maintaining personal hygiene standards is particularly important in environments where sanitation is critical, such as healthcare and foodservice. Keeping the spread of germs under control helps ensure patient safety and reduce the risk of foodborne illness outbreaks. This protects patients or guests — depending on your industry — as well as your company’s reputation.
Maintaining efficiency and productivity
Whether your employees interact frequently face-to-face and share physical spaces or they’re working remotely, maintaining personal hygiene standards can reduce sick days and keep your teams productive.
Presenting a professional image
Personal hygiene plays a big role in presenting professionally at work. When your employees wear clean clothes and keep a tidy appearance, it shows commitment to their roles and respect for your company’s standards. These little details can also make a great impression on clients and visitors who come by your facility.
Just bear in mind that what’s considered as a professional aesthetic is constantly evolving and changes depending on the context. Giving your workforce some basic guidelines while making space to celebrate diverse styles and identities can enhance your business’s reputation and build an inclusive, welcoming atmosphere for all.
Respect for co-workers
When employees practice good hygiene, they're not just taking care of themselves—they’re also showing they care about their co-workers. This helps create a more harmonious and respectful workplace where everyone feels more at ease. Personal hygiene is more than just a personal matter—it's a team effort.
To ensure your employees are aware of how this topic affects them and their colleagues, why not hold training sessions or even display visual reminders of best practices around your facility?
What are the best products for maintaining personal hygiene at work?
Personal hygiene is a multifaceted concept involving several parts of the body, all of which need different products to keep them clean and hygienic. Let’s take a look one by one!
Hand hygiene products
Proper hand hygiene is one of the most simple and effective ways to maintain personal hygiene and reduce the spread of illness. It benefits all of your employees, particularly those whose bodies can't fight off infections as easily due to medical conditions, aging, or even stress.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), handwashing benefits include: [1]
- Reducing respiratory illnesses, like colds, by 21%
- Reducing the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 31%
- Reducing diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58%
Ensuring that the right products are readily available for your employees to wash, dry, and sanitize their hands is crucial to maintaining personal and overall workplace hygiene standards. So, what should you stock up on?
Hand soap
First, get started with placing hand soap dispensers next to all sinks and wash stations, especially in communal spaces such as restrooms and kitchens. Keep in mind that some Tork dispensers feature dosage control, helping you ensure that the right amount of product is dispensed for thorough hand hygiene. You can also go the extra mile by installing touchless hand soap dispensers to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
Having dispensers in place is essential but filling them up with the right product makes all the difference. Opting for mildly formulated hand soap can not only limit the risk of germs but also of skin dryness and irritation — a thoughtful small perk for your employees.
Lastly, making sure that soap is always available is crucial to keep hygiene standards at your facility. If you're looking for an efficient way to ensure this, we’ve got just the data-driven solution for you with Tork Vision Cleaning. Best news is, it is available for many other of our dispensers, not just soap.
Paper hand towels
When it comes to hand hygiene, drying is just as important as washing. Bacteria can still transfer from wet hands even after you've washed them, so providing access to paper hand towels is a must.
To encourage your employees to complete the full hand hygiene process, make sure to always place paper hand towel dispensers next to or near hand soap dispensers.
Hand sanitizer
To provide your workforce with a quick way to practice additional hand hygiene or as an alternative when there’s no immediate access to soap and water, hand sanitizer is an ideal solution. To ensure that it is accessible to all, you may want to consider placing hygiene stands equipped with hand sanitizer dispensers in high-traffic areas.
With so many options to choose from in the market, picking the right product for your facility can be tricky. So why not check out our full guide to hand sanitizers?
Body care products
Keeping our bodies clean and free from body odor can be challenging at times, especially on hot summer days during the commute to work or after a morning gym session. Therefore, providing your employees with ways to freshen up can go a long way in preventing the spread of germs and allowing them to go about their day with confidence.
You can do this by providing personal care items like deodorant and facial washes in the restrooms. And if you offer showering facilities, installing dispensers for hair and body wash is a great way to promote all-over hygiene.
Facial tissues
Making facial tissues accessible at work is a simple but effective way to keep everyone healthy and comfortable. Whether it's for sneezing, wiping their nose, or even taking care of a small spill, having boxes of tissues available helps your employees maintain good hygiene and cleanliness.
Encouraging your workforce to catch germs in clean tissue and reminding them to dispose of them correctly afterwards can further reduce the spread of viruses in the workplace, especially during cold season.
How to make personal hygiene products available
If you're going to expect employees to maintain a certain standard of personal hygiene, it's vital to make it as easy as possible for them to do this. That means it is important for you to ensure dispensers are refilled regularly, functioning correctly, and accessible to all.
This can be tricky for cleaning staff, especially at larger facilities. But you can help them know exactly when and where refills are needed with real-time data from facilities management software like Tork Vision Cleaning. You can also support staff by providing them with our step-by-step guides on opening and maintaining Tork toilet paper and paper towel dispensers.
How to address personal hygiene issues at work
Addressing hygiene concerns can be a sensitive issue, so it's important to approach these situations with patience and understanding. Various factors, including physical and mental health challenges or even cultural differences, can impact someone’s ability to maintain your company’s personal hygiene standards.
There are simple ways to handle this kind of situation while still maintaining a positive relationship with your employees:
Approach with sensitivity
If workplace hygiene issues arise, it’s crucial to approach the matter privately and respectfully. Direct communication, framed with empathy, can help avoid embarrassment. When addressing a colleague or employee, it can be helpful to focus on the importance of hygiene for everyone’s well-being, rather than making it feel like a personal criticism.
After the initial meeting to address the issues, it’s reasonable to give them time to understand your concerns and address them in their own way. Try to avoid giving an employee unsolicited advice or diagnosing them with any issues.
Understand underlying health issues
Sometimes, personal hygiene struggles may be linked to underlying medical issues or mental health challenges. Every person is different, so take some time to listen to them and get a grasp of the particular circumstances every individual may be living with.
These factors can impact how a person maintains hygiene, so offering support rather than judgment is key. For example, providing resources like access to healthcare professionals, mental health support, or even adjustments in work schedules can make it easier for someone to manage their personal health and hygiene.
Create a supportive environment
Fostering a culture of open communication and providing support when needed can help employees feel at ease discussing personal challenges. By staying mindful of potential issues and responding with empathy and reasonable accommodations, you can ensure hygiene standards are maintained without anyone feeling shame.
Prioritizing good hygiene at work not only helps everyone feel good but also creates a more productive space for your teams to perform. Providing your employees with basic information on personal hygiene as well as the right products to maintain it is key to a comfortable and healthy workplace. Combining this with handling conversations around hygiene issues with kindness and understanding promotes a real team effort to keep standards high and ensure everyone’s safety.
Interested in learning more about how to create a hygienic and efficient workplace? Discover our resources to educate your employees on why hand hygiene is vital and the correct way to wash their hands.
© 2024 Essity Hygiene and Health AB