Personal hygiene should be included in the policies of every company. When employees are clean, they will be healthier and look more professional, and the whole company will leave a better impression on clients and potential clients.
Are you wondering how to maintain personal hygiene in the workplace? Here are 10 tips that will help you and your employees maintain a good personal hygiene in the workplace:
1. Take a bath or a shower everyday
Taking a bath or a shower everyday is considered to be the basics of personal hygiene. Carefully cleaning your skin will help it look healthier, and it will also eliminate body odors.
People who work from home can get away with taking a bath or shower every two days, but those who have to show up at the office should get clean every morning, or every night before going to bed.
2. Take good care of your hair
While you are taking a bath or a shower, be sure to wash your hair as well. Dirty hair looks awful and unprofessional, and it can also cause unpleasant body odors.
Some companies have specific rules regarding hair and facial hair in their policies, and all employees should follow these rules on top of making sure to keep their hair clean and well-groomed.
3. Take good care of your teeth
No one wants to work with a colleague who has bad breath. Everyone at the office should floss and brush their teeth daily, and use mouthwash after eating lunch.
You should also make sure to visit your dentist at least once a year, as this could be the only way to discover and treat dental and oral issues that are known to cause chronic bad breath.
4. Keep your hands clean and take good care of them
Carefully wash your hands with soap and warm water after you have used the washroom, and before and after you eat your lunch. Keep hand sanitizer at your desk, and use it after you have blown your nose.
You should also trim your fingernails regularly, and keep them clean. Some companies have specific rules about nails in their policies, and everyone should be aware of them.
5. Use deodorant or antiperspirant
Deodorants contain ingredients that prevent odors, while antiperspirants contain ingredients that prevent sweating by blocking the pores of the skin.
No matter which one you choose to use, what matters is that you apply it every morning before going to work. This is even more important if you tend to sweat a lot, or if you live in a warm climate or do some heavy duty job.
6. Wear clean clothes everyday
Bathing, showering, and applying deodorant or antiperspirant daily will not do much to eliminate body odors if your employees are wearing the same dirty clothes every single day. Doing laundry regularly will help ensure you can change into fresh clothes each morning.
If your employees are wearing work uniforms, make sure they have enough uniforms to be able to wear a clean set each day.
7. Keep a bag of toiletries with you
Everyone at the office should keep a bag of travel-size toiletries at their desk. This bag should contain deodorant, a hairbrush or a comb, a toothbrush and toothpaste, floss, adhesive bandages, a needle and some thread, and a stain remover pen.
You should also keep a clean shirt to change into. You never know what can happen during an ordinary workday, and it’s best to be ready.
8. Avoid eating lunch at your desk
Eating lunch at your desk might seem like a convenient option, but you should avoid it as much as possible. You could drip something on your shirt or on your keyboard while you are focusing on your computer screen.
Above all, your keyboard and your desk are covered in a lot more bacteria than you might think, so eating lunch in a well-maintained office kitchen or break room will be a healthier option.
9. Keep your workplace clean
Unless you have hired office janitorial services to keep your workplace neat and tidy, you should involve all your employees by giving each of them a few simple cleaning tasks.
Clean employees in a clean workplace makes a lot more sense than asking your employees to focus on their personal hygiene as they come to work in a dirty and messy office.
10. Make sure you never run out of soap and sanitizers
Finally, to make it easier for everyone to maintain a good personal hygiene in the workplace, make sure you never run out of hand soap and sanitizers.
If you have hired janitorial services, they will be sure to refill your soap and sanitizer dispensers as they clean your office washroom and kitchen. If you are doing it on your own, keep an eye on your dispensers.