When it comes to workplace hygiene, who’s cleaner: men or women? The answer may not surprise you, but it will make you think twice the next time you’re in a restroom.
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According to the 2015 Healthy Hand-Washing Survey, women outdo men when it comes to washing their hands before returning back to work. Almost half (46%) of the men surveyed say they’ve witnessed a coworker not washing his hands after using the restroom, while only one-third (32%) of women say they’ve witnessed other women not washing their hands.
“We’ve looked at hand-washing habits for a number of years, and women consistently outperform men with their hand hygiene,” said Jon Dommisse, director of global marketing and strategic development at Bradley Corp. “When asked why they didn’t wash up after using a public restroom, men consistently say they didn’t feel the need. We’ve also found men are more likely than women to skip the soap and simply rinse their hands.”
However, when it comes to germs, both men and women say that hand-washing is their first line of defense when trying to stay away from sick coworkers. Other ways employees defend themselves against illness is to steer clear of the sick coworker (62%), stand further away when talking to the colleague (55%), and try not to shake the person’s hand (53%).
Hand-washing isn’t the only thing employees look at when considering cleanliness. Almost 90% of all employees surveyed believe that the condition of a workplace restroom is one indicator of how a company values its workforce. Many participants ranked their workplace bathroom as fairly high, but 9% say their bathrooms are either poor or terrible.
While many employees say their workplace bathrooms are nice overall, they can still have their issues. Respondents claim that unflushed toilets, unpleasant smells, and empty towel and soap dispensers still wreak havoc on a nice workplace bathroom. Respondents say that an unkempt bathroom indicates poor management, lowers their opinion of the company, and shows the business doesn’t care about its customers.
As organizations look at ways to retain their top talent, a good idea may be to start with the bathroom. If your company’s bathroom looks like it’s out of that scene from Daddy Day Care, then maybe it’s time to get your scrubby gloves on, or just hire a better cleaning crew!