Clean Business: The Risk Of Dismissing The Importance Of Clean

Posted on February 15, 2024

The Abbott Nutrition plant in Sturgis, MI, was closed down last February, initiating a widespread baby formula shortage. The facility had “egregiously unsanitary” conditions. The contamination not only threatened the health of one of our most vulnerable populations but the shortage and inflated prices of available formula impacted mothers and families worldwide. In an era of global instability and economic uncertainty, few developments could have been more damaging to families’ mental well-being.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of cleaning for human health. The Sturgis plant shutdown exposed the power of cleaning to ensure business continuity—and how the lack of cleaning can bring production to a screeching halt, with repercussions reaching far beyond any individual facility or business.

The High Cost Of Unclean

In a hospital, unsanitary conditions can be the difference between patients healing versus becoming sicker or even dying. Improper or poorly executed cleaning and disinfection processes can also severely affect a hospital’s bottom line. For example, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) put patients at risk. They also result in lower Medicare and Medicaid payments, HCAHPS scores and bed turnover rates, as well as decreased patient satisfaction–all of which can hurt a healthcare facility’s reputation and bottom line.

Consider the severe damage unsanitary conditions can cause in the aerospace industry, where foreign object debris (FOD), including dirt, can ground a space shuttle or cause missiles to misfire, threatening the defense of our country and the safety of our people. Experts estimate FOD costs the aerospace industry $12 billion annually.

Cleanliness is vital to businesses in all industries. The problem is that, too often, companies don’t link the importance of a clean, healthy environment to their core competencies and, in turn, their bottom lines.

As an industry, we have been dealing with a race to the bottom for a long time, with companies looking to save money and increase profit margins by cutting cleaning budgets. The pandemic highlighted how this thinking is not sustainable. The baby formula crisis drives the message home: In an era of global instability, supply chain bottlenecks, and looming pandemics, unclean, unhealthy environments are unconscionable.

Points To Consider Before Cutting Your Commercial Cleaning Services Budget

Most facility managers readily grasp the clean-business connection. Aided by pressure from third parties, including clients and employees, some executives do, too. However, many do not. We are the stewards of our industry. It is up to us to get the message out.

With this in mind, as CEO of a commercial cleaning services provider, I’ve compiled actions I urge companies to consider taking before reducing their cleaning budgets.

Collect data. In this age of technology, your cleaning services provider should have access to data. This data can range from ATP meter readings showing differences in contamination levels between cleaning once a week versus every two weeks to building occupant surveys rating the facility’s cleanliness. Hospital management should review HCAHPS and patient satisfaction scores to see how the hospital EVS performance is perceived. This data can help you decide whether the facility can afford to reduce the cleaning/EVS budget and, if so, where the best areas might be to cut costs.

Ask before you cut. Commercial cleaning services are experts in their field. If your business is having budget issues, talk to your provider about where cuts might be made with the least impact on your facility’s overall cleanliness and the health of the occupants.

Think long term. Often cleaning budgets are cut without considering the longer-term implications. Some offices spend thousands of dollars on new furniture and flooring, only to have it look shabby in six months from lack of proper care. Less frequent dusting and vacuuming saves money in the short term, but in addition to irritating occupants’ noses and lungs, these reductions can lead to unbudgeted carpet replacement, scratched floors and clogged HVAC filters and air purification systems that require expensive repairs.

Consider impressions. If you put someone in a hospital with dust bunnies under the bed or a restaurant with a dirty bathroom, they’re likely to worry about all the dirt and germs they can’t see—and take their business elsewhere. They are not alone in this thinking. While people clean for health, removing the visible dirt is the first step to making building occupants and visitors feel safe.

Recognize it’s not only Covid. Like Covid-19, monkeypox, the common cold, flu and other viruses and bacteria are transmitted via contact with skin, surfaces and air. They can all make occupants sick, increase absenteeism, lower hiring and retention rates and negatively impact productivity, eventually adversely affecting the bottom line.

Accept the limits. While any good commercial cleaning services partner will do what it can to work within a budget, at some point, the only way to shave that extra $200 is to reduce the custodial technicians’ hours or impact wages despite the work they’ve performed throughout recent crises. Here, it comes down to doing the right thing. Similarly, if a customer wants a restroom cleaned only once a week, the provider should educate them about all the potential consequences of that decision, from dissatisfied employees to health department violations.

As experts in infection prevention, it is up to us to educate and explain the value of clean. But it takes businesses and their budget owners to work together with their service providers to create healthy environments for people to thrive.

Original post: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/10/20/clean-business-the-risk-of-dismissing-the-importance-of-clean/?ssp=1&setlang=en&cc=US&safesearch=moderate&sh=5be8bc8f68ac