Out of sheer urgency, most of us have used a public bathroom at least once in our life. For every time you have, there’s at least a few times you haven’t, because you’ve walked into one that smells awful and looks disgusting. There’s a reason why some people never, ever use public bathrooms. Sure, public bathrooms are different from bathrooms open to the public in businesses, and definitely different from bathrooms that aren’t open to the public (ones that are used by employees and staff). What remains the same are the ways in which dirty restrooms affect people, which ultimately impacts your business.
Whether this impact is positive or negative is up to you, and will be determined by how much time, energy, and money you invest in restroom maintenance. Learning how dirty restrooms negatively impacts your business will definitely motivate you to put more resources towards the maintenance of your business’s restrooms. That said, here’s how dirty restrooms impact your business:
For Restrooms Open to Customers/the Public
Most people – from customers and/or clients to the general public – will associate the condition of your restrooms to your business’s goods and/or services. That means that if your restrooms are dirty and smelly, they’ll think the same of your business and not desire your product or service. Worse, they’ll tell others and hurt your reputation. Because a restroom represents a place essential to our function as humans, how you maintain that space matters to people.
Impact on Potential Business
There are potential future customers that may visit your business in need of use of your restroom and, seeing that your restroom is dirty, will be deterred from ever coming back to your business as they’ll associate your products and/or services with the condition of your restrooms.
For Workforce-Only Restrooms
Restrooms that are only open to your employees are equally important as far as impact to your business is concerned. People need to have access to a restroom to go #1 or #2 as needed, and your employees are no exception. Dirty restrooms are disruptive to the workday as people will search for other restrooms to use in lieu of dirty ones.
Impact on Operations
Any operations expert will tell you that there is data that supports a positive correlation between healthy, happy employees and the overall success of a company. This is two-fold. First, dirty restrooms put your employees’ physical health at risk as bathrooms are a place where bodily fluids, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens are concentrated. One or more employees falling ill due to dirty restrooms will hinder your business’s ability to deliver its goods and/or services, costing your business. Second, even if your workforce doesn’t fall ill due to dirty restrooms, they will perceive your lack of maintaining clean restrooms as not caring about them and their health, which will hurt morale. Unsatisfied, unhappy workers are less productive, and that’s bad for your business.