ded steam cleaning, the blinds had spider webs and thick dust, the partitions which divided the workstations had never been vacuumed.

John immediately organised for the entire office to be cleaned from floor to ceiling. I also suggested that he contact the local nursery to install plants in specific a

Many office-based workers do not realise that the environment they spend a majority of their working week in, may not be good for their health.

Have you ever experienced headaches, respiratory infections, asthma or fatigue? Do these ailments occur at work? What happens when you go on holiday or at the weekends, do they still occur or do they miraculously disappear?

You’ll often find people’s desk drawers contain a variety of pills and potions to alleviate the ailments they experience at work.

John’s Story

John commenced work in a large open plan office a few months ago. He had been promoted from Team Leader in another division to the Manager of this new department. Since that time he has been continually unwell. He went on holiday for two weeks and all his ailments disappeared. A week later he returned to work and again he became sick. This of course greatly affected his productivity because when you feel unwell you don’t feel like doing much work…no matter how motivated you usually are.

Further investigation revealed that absenteeism in this department was high. People would often be away sick. John discovered the whole office had not had a thorough clean in two years…the carpet needed steam cleaning, the blinds had spider webs and thick dust, the partitions which divided the workstations had never been vacuumed.

John immediately organised for the entire office to be cleaned from floor to ceiling. I also suggested that he contact the local nursery to install plants in specific ar

weekends, do they still occur or do they miraculously disappear?

You’ll often find people’s desk drawers contain a variety of pills and potions to alleviate the ailments they experience at work.

John’s Story

John commenced work in a large open plan office a few months ago. He had been promoted from Team Leader in another division to the Manager of this new department. Since that time he has been continually unwell. He went on holiday for two weeks and all his ailments disappeared. A week later he returned to work and again he became sick. This of course greatly affected his productivity because when you feel unwell you don’t feel like doing much work…no matter how motivated you usually are.

Further investigation revealed that absenteeism in this department was high. People would often be away sick. John discovered the whole office had not had a thorough clean in two years…the carpet needed steam cleaning, the blinds had spider webs and thick dust, the partitions which divided the workstations had never been vacuumed.

John immediately organised for the entire office to be cleaned from floor to ceiling. I also suggested that he contact the local nursery to install plants in specific a

moted from Team Leader in another division to the Manager of this new department. Since that time he has been continually unwell. He went on holiday for two weeks and all his ailments disappeared. A week later he returned to work and again he became sick. This of course greatly affected his productivity because when you feel unwell you don’t feel like doing much work…no matter how motivated you usually are.

Further investigation revealed that absenteeism in this department was high. People would often be away sick. John discovered the whole office had not had a thorough clean in two years…the carpet needed steam cleaning, the blinds had spider webs and thick dust, the partitions which divided the workstations had never been vacuumed.

John immediately organised for the entire office to be cleaned from floor to ceiling. I also suggested that he contact the local nursery to install plants in specific a

ause when you feel unwell you don’t feel like doing much work…no matter how motivated you usually are.

Further investigation revealed that absenteeism in this department was high. People would often be away sick. John discovered the whole office had not had a thorough clean in two years…the carpet needed steam cleaning, the blinds had spider webs and thick dust, the partitions which divided the workstations had never been vacuumed.

John immediately organised for the entire office to be cleaned from floor to ceiling. I also suggested that he contact the local nursery to install plants in specific a

ded steam cleaning, the blinds had spider webs and thick dust, the partitions which divided the workstations had never been vacuumed.

John immediately organised for the entire office to be cleaned from floor to ceiling. I also suggested that he contact the local nursery to install plants in specific areas. Not only do plants make the environment look good, they assist with air filtration.

When I spoke to John again, he said he was feeling much better… and so did many of his colleagues!

Robyn’s Story

Robyn is the Human Resources Manager in a computer company. She began experiencing bad asthma attacks since moving to her open plan area.

She discovered that the office partitions had never been cleaned since their installation many years ago. The dust was exacerbating her condition. She has since had them thoroughly cleaned and her asthma has subsided!

Sally’s Story

At an on-site workshop I ran for a telecommunications company, one of the participants told us that her previous employer made a cost-cutting decision – to remove all the plants from the office. They had a contract with a plantscaping organisation and thought this would be an easy way to save money.

Within 6 weeks there was a noticeable increase in absenteeism through sickness. (And there wasn’t a flu epidemic at that time).

Save Time, Save Money, Save Yourself

If you want to save time and money and most importantly your health, look at the environment you work in.

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