Even as we enter the eighth month of the coronavirus pandemic, your staff’s anxiety over Covid-19 will not have lessened. If anything, with the new lockdown in place and growing positive cases, hospitalisations and sadly deaths as well, their worries will inevitably be further heightened. So, how do you make sure that you are best placed to retain your staff during and after this particular lockdown when many will inevitably be spending their time wondering whether they should return in December?

The answer is to own the perception and reality of hygiene in your office, to evidence that you are an employer who cares about the health and safety of your staff with a lockdown clean both inside and out that’s as thorough and deep as can be.

What will your staff be thinking?

Good staff are tough to find and once you’ve gone to the trouble and expense of seeking them out, recruiting them and training them to be their best, you’ll want to hold onto them. The pandemic has already seen many people question the whole idea of working in offices, especially when they have to take public transport to get to them.

A survey undertaken in the last lockdown revealed that 4 in 10 people were considering changing careers as a result of Covid-19 and another saw an increase of over 130% for online searches using the phrases “how to move jobs”, “job change” and “move careers”.

Many have already left to work for themselves or to move to another employer more focused on making their place of work ‘Covid-safe’. So, if you want to encourage your staff to work throughout the lockdown, or to come back afterwards, then how much you prioritise your hygiene at work will be a major factor.

What you can do to retain your staff in these tough times

We’d recommend considering two things: 1) a deep Covid clean inside your offices, and 2) a façade clean so the first impression your staff get is always a good one.

• The deep Covid-19 clean

A Covid-19 clean is not putting a little more elbow grease into your polishing and hoovering, it’s a specialist area involving hospital-grade chemicals that are both proven to be deadly to the virus and safe for people. We use a company called Direct Eco Solutions because they are trusted by schools, nurseries, retail and office-based companies to do what’s needed to make those spaces safe.

They survey to assess the best approach, use broad-spectrum medical-grade disinfectant that’s alcohol and chlorine free and Ph neutral so it does not stain or damage surfaces, and they provide photographic and documented evidence of the safe completion of their work. The bonus is that while completely safe around children, animals and food preparation areas once their final gas analysis has been completed, the chemicals they use keep surfaces Covid-free for up to 30 days after the clean, offering long-term confidence for your staff about their work environment.

• The façade clean

As window cleaners we not only clean windows, we also clean atriums and glazed elevators, company signage on the outside of your building, guttering, cladding, and even pathways with our pressure washers.

We use telescopic water-fed brushes with warmed, filtered, deionised rainwater harvested water and, though we use ladders to get into difficult to reach places we can also abseil down from taller buildings so we can clean every inch of the outside.

Turning up to work can be an emotional experience today. Many are afraid for their health or that of their family, so anything you can do to make them feel more comfortable, that you are taking this pandemic and their wellness seriously, the better.

For an introduction to Direct Eco Solutions, or for a façade clean that will give your staff a boost of confidence when they return to work, call London Window Cleaners 020 3954 2900.

 SOURCES

1. https://www.thesun.co.uk/uncategorized/11606913/brits-changing-careers-coronavirus-lockdown/
2. https://www.directecosolutions.com/#toggle-id-3