How a Clean Office Can Boost Productivity [Infographic]

Absenteeism is a major issue for many companies, with the average employee clocking nine sick days every year. While there are cases where employees take extreme liberties with the acuteness of the illness they’re claiming, most sick leave is genuine and a large portion of it could well stem from a less than hygienic working environment.

A team of researchers at Harvard conducted a study which deduced that people in neat, distraction-free environments will persist with challenging tasks for significantly longer than those in cluttered, untidy spaces. The chief takeaway from the study is that people are far more likely to get a greater quantity and quality of work done when situated in a clean environment than in a cluttered one.

There could be several reasons for the link between clean offices and greater productivity. The lack of distractions is one, as is the intrinsic motivation to work harder when presented with a cleaner workspace. Also, an untidy office could be rife with dust and other irritants that cause sicknesses in employees, forcing them to take unexpected leave and hampering productivity. 

This infographic delves further into the correlation between a clean, well-maintained working environment and a consistently high level of productivity. A little cleaning can go a long way, it seems!