Working from Home? So Are the Germs

Working from home may provide many benefits, but a break from germs may not be one of them. Why? A recent workplace study revealed that desktops in home offices harbor more bacteria than desktops in traditional offices.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, nearly 5.5 million Americans worked at home, accounting for approximately 4 percent of the total workforce. Thanks to recent studies that find home-bound workers to be highly productive, telecommuting rates are ever-increasing, as many employers hire new employees to telecommute right from the start.

In the workplace study conducted by University of Arizona and sponsored by The Clorox Company, researchers sought to compare bacteria levels on common office surfaces in home-office and traditional-office environments. Four times as many bacteria were found on home desktops compared to traditional-office desktops.

“Although telecommuting offers many benefits like increased productivity and morale, workers at home need to practice the same healthy habits as the rest of the workforce,” says Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist from the University of Arizona.

Samples were collected for the study from traditional-offices and home-offices in San Francisco, New York and Tucson. More than 400 surfaces were tested and samples were analyzed at the University of Arizona laboratories. The study shows home-offices are surprising offenders, though many surfaces in traditional-offices still contain high levels of bacteria.

“Surprisingly high germ levels in home offices may be due to the fact that people think their homes are already clean, or that the germs in their home offices are just their own and therefore harmless,” Gerba says. “But, regardless of whose they are, there’s a chance the germs can make you sick.”

Previous studies have investigated bacterial and viral levels in traditional office environments. In 2002, Dr. Gerba found that not only does the average office desk harbor 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat, but that cold and flu viruses were also found on office surfaces.

Today’s workforce is spending more time at their desks — the average work week steadies at about 47 hours according to Harris Interactive Poll — and even more people coming into work despite being sick, illness-causing germs can run rampant. This means longer hours spent working, and even eating, at your potentially germ-infected work area.

So how can employees help reduce the spread of illness-causing bacteria and viruses?

One good way to help reduce the spread of surface germs is to regularly clean your personal workspace with an easy-to-use disinfecting wipe like Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. Using just one disinfecting wipe as directed can dramatically reduce the bacteria and viruses that may make you sick.

Safe for use on most hard, non-porous surfaces, Clorox Disinfecting Wipes are pre-moistened and ready to use — just wipe, toss and you’re done. When used as directed, they also kill 99.9 percent of germs including viruses that may cause colds and flu. For more information, visit www.clorox.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Got the Workday Blues?

It’s only natural to feel a little down about being stuck inside all day when the weather is so nice outside, says Julia Kennedy, career services director for Everest Universities throughout North America. If you do have a case of the summertime work blues, Kennedy says there are many ways to cheer yourself up.

For example, if you have a window, open it to let the fresh air in. You can also bring nature into your office by putting a bouquet of flowers on your desk or creating a desk-sized rock garden. You should also try to spend as much time as possible outdoors and build in special times for getting out of the office. You can pack your lunch and eat it outdoors, or take an afternoon coffee break to walk around the block. Lastly, Kennedy suggests that you talk to your boss about flex-time or working from home once a week, if you really want to fit more freedom for outdoor time into your schedule.

But if your dislike of your job goes deeper than simply the summertime blues, Kennedy says your dissatisfaction should be taken seriously. “Everybody has a bad day at work, but if you’re having a lot of bad days, you might have the workplace blues, and they can have a real effect on your quality of life,” she says.

Kennedy suggests asking yourself the following questions to fairly assess your current work environment: Do you feel trapped at work? Do you dread going to work in the morning? Do you see real potential for advancement at work? Do you have a good relationship with your boss? Do you constantly dream of the weekends?

“Ask yourself, ‘How often am I feeling this way? Am I blaming my boss or co-workers for the way I’m feeling consistently?’ Once you’re aware of the reasons why you feel a certain way, it usually becomes quite obvious what change is necessary,” Kennedy adds.

New evidence from north of the border shows that Americans are not alone in our work problems. In fact, half of all Canadians report suffering from occasional bouts of work-induced blues, according to a December 2007 survey commissioned by Everest College of Business, Technology and Healthcare — Ontario’s leading career college.

Feelings of job dissatisfaction can range from mild frustration to consistent feelings of unhappiness. On the same survey by Everest College of Business, 22 percent of respondents indicated that their salary was the most depressing thing about their job, whereas 12 percent said a lack of opportunity for career advancement was. Perhaps more troubling, 40 percent of respondents believed that their current job did not offer a lot of opportunity for advancement.

“If you are reaching a moderate level of job dissatisfaction and have not yet started thinking about alternatives, it’s time to start learning about new opportunities of which there are many,” says Kennedy. “Career fit is important to happiness on the job. Retraining can play a key role in changing lives for the better and most of our students are working while learning new skills to transition to a new career path.”

If you are thinking of making a career change, Kennedy recommends evaluating these factors: your interests; value system; skill level; opportunities in the market; and which fields, industries or companies seem attractive. “Your career needs to fit with your personality and interests, and support your goals for the future,” adds Kennedy. “Most importantly, remember that you deserve to be happy and fulfilled in your professional choice.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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(ARA) – You might not know it yet, but the days of walking into work, grabbing a cup of coffee, strolling into your office and closing the door behind you may soon be a thing of the past.

Although people still spend approximately two-thirds of their day working individually, more so now than ever, businesses are relying on teamwork and creative collaboration to generate success. As this collaborative approach to business continues to grow, the landscape of the typical office is evolving to reflect this change.

“As rigid thinking in the business world is replaced by office environments that rely on teamwork and dynamic participation, closed doors and individual spaces are slowly giving way to more open work areas that easily allow for group interaction,“ says John Boot, Gunlocke Vice President Product Design and Development. “More and more businesses are carving out floor plans that address the need for collaboration among employees.”

At the same time, today’s companies are also aware that office comfort and well-thought-out workplace design can have significant impact on individual productivity and concentration levels. Employees are continually being asked to do more with less. Work pressures are increasing as a growing number of employees across a wide-range of job classifications are expected to work longer hours and significantly increase their productivity. So, it’s no secret that employees want to be comfortable and care greatly about their work environment.

Just how much do they care? According to an independent 2006 U.S. Workplace Survey conducted on behalf of Gensler, a global design, planning and strategic consulting firm, design does matter. Sixty-five percent of workers asked said that the design and layout of their workplace is “extremely” or “very” important to them. And, more than ninety-percent surveyed said the quality of their working environment affects their attitude about their work.

The bottom line, companies have their work cut out for them. Forward thinking companies need to allocate dedicated space for collaboration while taking into consideration individual employee’s needs. Keeping this in mind, many of them are providing employees with teaming and collaboration space in combination with nearby, open individual work areas. This collaborative space might be off to one side, or in some cases centrally located in the middle of the individual work spaces.

Other companies are exploring the idea of maintaining private offices while also creating relaxed, informal areas to spur spontaneous and informal collaborative sessions, such as office cafes and recreational areas. These spaces are easily accessible by all employees and meant to excite and inspire, rather than dull the senses.

Another new focus is on providing formal and informal conferencing space that is user friendly and able to integrate the most up-to-date technology as easily and effectively as possible. Many times project work takes place in a traditional conference room, but increasingly it may be held in nontraditional areas, such as an employee’s personal office. In order to adapt, companies have begun utilizing mobile furniture, AV carts and whiteboards, such as those found in the new Converge Conference Room Furniture Collection by Gunlocke.

Looking forward, as technology evolves and the need for creative collaboration expands, businesses will continue to be challenged to provide office environments that not only facilitate the lively exchange of ideas, but also protect the individual employee’s privacy and ability to concentrate. Every company should keep in mind that good, sound office space design should make for happy workers which, in turn, creates a more productive, successful business.

For more information about Converge or other Gunlocke furniture, contact Gunlocke at (800) 828-6300, or visit www.gunlocke.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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