Did you know that influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is responsible for approximately 75 million work absences every year in the United States? However, providing a clean work space for your employees can decrease sickness in the office and increase productivity. There are two main ways to clean an office, and each one is beneficial in its own way.

1. Commercial cleaning services. This option involves allowing a commercial cleaning company to cleanse every area of your office. Your office kitchen, windows, and carpets, for example, can all be cleaned by a professional service. These services utilize commercial cleaning equipment in order to successfully clean every area of your office, and this is important because cold and flu viruses can survive on hard surfaces for up to 18 hours. By getting your office professionally cleaned, however, these viruses will be effectively eliminated.

2. Do it yourself. You and your employees also have the option of cleaning the office yourselves. Several disinfectants can be used to clean your office, such as bleach, hydrogen peroxide, and alcohol, and each of these products will help disinfect different areas. Office phones, for example, contain 25,000 bacteria per square inch, and desks that are not disinfected can harbor germs that multiply up to 31% each day. By cleaning your office on a regular basis, however, these germs and bacteria will not have the opportunity to infect your employees.

A clean work space can decrease sickness in the office, so it is important to keep your office clean at all times. This can be accomplished by either doing it yourself or seeking help from commercial cleaning services, and both options are beneficial in their own ways. By maintaining a clean office, overall employee productivity will improve. Get more on this here.