While you may know that janitorial services keep your office clean and tidy, it's easy to overlook the fact that a janitor keeps your office healthy as well. You can't see germs with the naked eye, but it's likely that many areas in your office are covered with them — this makes offices a hotbed for transmitting bacteria and viruses that can make your employees sick. Here are three reasons why hiring janitorial services instead of relying on your employees to clean after themselves helps the entire office stay healthy.

1. Hot Spots Are Frequently Cleaned and Disinfected

A janitor or janitorial team can devote all of their time to cleaning hot spots in your office that are prime locations for the spread of germs. These are places that are touched by many different employees throughout the day, such as shared office telephones and door handles. It's easy for an employee to carelessly blow their nose into their hand, touch a door handle, and coat it with germs. Since so many of your employees touch the door handle throughout the day, the germs can rapidly spread throughout your entire office.

Dedicated janitorial services frequently clean and disinfect these hot spots throughout the day in order to reduce germ transmission. Cleaning spots that are likely to harbor germs helps to keep your employees from spreading them and keeps your office productive and healthy.

2. The Risk of Cross Contamination Is Reduced

Another side effect of letting your employees perform cleaning duties at your office that it increases the risk of cross contamination. If an employee spills something in the break room, he or she may simply use the nearest mop to clean it up. If that mop had previously been used to clean the bathroom, the floor of your office's break room may now be contaminated with bacteria found on the bathroom floor.

When you have one person or a team of people performing all the cleaning duties, it's simple to keep cleaning tools separate. When cleaning supplies used for the bathroom are kept separate from the cleaning supplies used in other areas of your office, you greatly reduce the risk of accidentally spreading fecal-borne bacteria from your bathrooms throughout your office.

3. Your Air Quality Is Improved by Only Using Green Cleaning Products

Green cleaning products that feature a low-volatile organic compound content help improve indoor air quality and let your employees breathe easier. Volatile organic compounds are commonly found in cleaning products that aren't designed to reduce them. Janitorial services will use only green cleaning products on request, reducing the number of volatile organic compounds that are floating around the air in your office. Improving the indoor air quality of your office by reducing airborne pollutants helps to reduce asthma symptoms and keep your employees healthier.

As you can see, janitorial services aren't just about keeping your office clean and tidy — they also help your employees stay healthy. Frequent cleaning helps to reduce the risk of germ outbreaks in your office that can result in many employees taking sick leave at the same time, which can throw your projects into disarray. If you'd like to make your office healthier, contact a janitorial service company such as First American Maintenance — they make it simple for your office to hire a janitor, and they'll help you keep your office healthy and free of germs.