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How clean is your new office?

Moving home is frequently cited by psychologists as one of the most stressful life events, after the death of a loved one, divorce or illness.  

But what about the stress associated with moving office? After all, the office is presumably where the majority of people reading this article spend most of their time. If you consider that the average office worker spends more time asleep at home than awake, you begin to appreciate just how important our workspaces are to us.

Leading corporate health and hygiene solutions provider Bidvest Steiner recognises that moving office is stressful enough without employees having to worry about the health risks of moving to another workspace within the same building, or the associated hygiene and cleanliness factors.  "Human beings are creatures of habit. We all have our favourite chairs, coffee machines, colleagues and some of us even treasure the windows above our desk, if we are fortunate enough to have one at all," commented Bidvest Steiner Sales Director, Rika van Rooyen.

Good health and hygiene practices can help minimise the stress and trauma of being uprooted from our little patch of corporate heaven after being asked to take up residence in an unfamiliar corner or cubicle. As an organisation with many years experience of keeping client workplaces clean and hygienic, Bidvest Steiner provides the following tips for turning the inevitable office move from 'dreaded' to 'delicious':

Tips for moving office

Ask your Human Resources or Facilities Management department to do a deep clean in your new work space. When the previous occupant may have been there for years, a simple wipe and a vacuum is not enough. A dedicated outsourced health and hygiene provider will know what specialised equipment and cleaning products are needed for a particular job.

If you are expected to pack and move some light belongings yourself, make sure you wear a face mask that your employer should provide. Even in the cleanest offices, moving things around can release dust into the air, triggering minor allergies or more serious asthma attacks.

Related to the above, try ensure your colleagues are not nearby when you move - it's probably not realistic to provide the whole department with face masks! A good idea would be to get a fresh start to your new start by moving office before anyone else arrives at work.

Because we have all heard the often-quoted corporate truism that there are more germs on the average keyboard than on a typical toilet seat, try really hard to have all of your predecessor's personal IT equipment replaced. Failing that, use a spray sanitiser to ensure the complete removal of the millions of nasty QWERTY-based germs hiding in every hardware nook and cranny.

Finally, after completing the move and settling in to your new slice of corporate life, pay a visit to the company bathrooms and wash your hands using a good quality, alcohol-based sanitiser. You may also want to carry a personal hand sanitiser with you to periodically cleanse your hands during the move. After all, you may meet the CEO on your move up to the top.

Have you moved offices? Share your experiences and send us an e-mail.

(Press release from Bidvest Steiner, November 2012)

(Picture: Modern office from Shutterstock)

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