As the main place of work for any office worker, the desk is one of the most frequently touched surfaces you’ll find in any office. Although we may associate germs and grossness with the toilets, the fact that desks actually harbour a much higher amount of germs emphasises the need to keep these spaces clean and sanitised! Ensuring the office is always clean can be difficult, especially when trying to enforce habits such as hand washing and wiping down your own areas, but if you told the staff what we’ve just told you I’m sure they’d have no problems giving their desk a quick wipe down on an evening before heading home!

So what are the actual worst areas of an office?

KEYBOARDS AND MICE

This should come as no surprise. The average office worker spends their whole day typing on the keyboard and moving the mouse. Keyboards are great at harbouring bacteria and can hold onto potentially harmful bacteria like E. coli and staph bacteria. Even sicknesses like the common cold are easily passed on when shared keyboards aren’t cleaned.

PHONES

That phone on your desk? Yep, filled with germs. It touches everything you’ve touched when you grab the handset. Then, you put that handset right up to your face. It’s no surprise that phones are some of the grossest parts of the office.

SWITCHES AND BUTTONS

These are often overlooked in cleaning. Things like light switches, for example, are great at holding onto dirt and grime. Everyone touches them throughout the day, so they become a breeding ground for unwanted germs.

SHARED OFFICE EQUIPMENT

Copiers, printers, and any other routinely used industrial equipment hold onto germs easily. Have you ever wondered who was cleaning your printer? Probably not, but you certainly will now!

DOORKNOBS

There are few things more high-traffic than doorknobs and handles in general. Office doorknobs, main doorknobs, bathroom door handles. Doorknobs can transfer germs at an alarming rate and are one of the most common causes of sickness spreading throughout an office.

RESTROOMS

This one is probably obvious, but it’s worth mentioning all the same. Your office restrooms need routine deep cleaning because they harbour germs incredibly easily. A public space with plenty of doorknobs, switches, and shared surfaces is a breeding ground for germs.

KITCHEN ITEMS

Ironically enough, that sponge in your office kitchen is probably holding onto lots of germs.

You need to routinely clean your sponge. Otherwise, the moisture it retains can grow bacteria and mould. Not to mention, when food particles get stuck in your sponge, they leave behind a nasty residue you don’t want to spread around.

And just to finish this blog post off… Here are 5 fun facts telling us just how DIRTY our offices are…

1. The average work desks 400 TIMES dirtier than a toilet seat.

2. 50% of office workers don’t wash their hands after going to the toilet.

3. 20% of workers never clean their mouse.

4. Poor office hygiene is costing the UK £13.7 billion in sick days.

5. 80% of infections spread through contaminated surfaces.