PHILADELPHIA (News release) - Tork, an Essity brand, announced new research revealing the link between clean, well-functioning workplaces and employee satisfaction. Notably, the research found that 86% of office employees regard cleanliness as the most important aspect of a good work environment.¹ For facility leaders, the new findings signal the importance of hygiene in improving employee satisfaction, and how partnerships with trusted hygiene advisors can enable the delivery of high-quality hygiene more efficiently and reduce complaints with proven products and solutions.

Challenges facing facility managers

Today, facility managers face a challenging landscape. They face a growing list of tasks and demands on a daily basis, yet budget and resources are increasingly squeezed Additionally, there are higher employee expectations regarding cleanliness, hygiene, and sustainability post-pandemic, and supply chain issues, labor shortages, sustainability legislation and staff turnover are making an already difficult job harder. Facility managers only manage to spend about 18% on their time improving cleaning performance and quality, yet they name cleaning quality as their number one priority.²

Research shows cleanliness is more than just a 'hygiene factor'

The new research from Tork reveals a clear link between a clean, well-functioning workspace and employees' appreciation of it. 85% of employees think that how clean restrooms are reflects how clean the building is overall and 67% of employees say that they are more likely to complain about a restroom than any other aspect of their office.¹ Restrooms are a particular problem area, accounting for over 45% of office building complaints³ - more than any other aspect of the workplace.

The research signals that facility managers can contribute to a significant reduction in complaints from office employees by ensuring restroom maintenance is run efficiently. A more efficient restroom means more time to clean in other areas, and a cleaner workspace means happier office employees and better workplace satisfaction.

Improve workplace satisfaction with the Tork Office Hygiene Package

The Tork Office Hygiene Package^TM can help businesses elevate workplace satisfaction with smart hygiene solutions for the entire facility. For example, Tork high-capacity dispensers ensure refills are readily available and designed to be easy to use and quick to refill for cleaning staff, helping them to work efficiently.

The latest example of how Tork solutions can help ensure a consistently positive user experience by enabling cleaners to work more efficiently is the new Tork Counter Mount Soap System, designed to save cleaners' time when refilling. It comes with a six-foot hose for mounting the dispenser unit where easiest for cleaners to reach. In addition, the system is designed to be easy to service, with front loading design and a refill bottle designed for easy gripping.

Part of the package is Tork Vision Cleaning - the world's leading data-driven cleaning solution. Using real-time data from people counters and connected dispensers, Tork Vision Cleaning takes the guesswork out of cleaning operations and shows facility managers and cleaning staff when and where cleaning and dispenser refilling are needed. This not only saves time, for example up to a 91% reduction in dispenser checks,⁴ but also enables consistent, high-quality cleaning, enabling dispensers to be stocked up to 99% of the time⁵.

The Tork Office Hygiene Package also includes tools and support to help businesses improve workplace satisfaction, including the Office Complaints Minimizer™, a new and unique gamified digital challenge for facility mangers to test their knowledge against industry data and learn about hygiene and cleaning solutions to reduce complaints and save time.

"Taking the pressure off for facility managers is important for us, we're always looking at how our products and services deliver both a great user experience and drive more efficient cleaning. If restrooms are run efficiently, cleaning teams have more time to address urgent needs throughout the facility. This leads to a reduction in complaints related to cleaning. As our research proves, better cleaning quality builds better employee workplace satisfaction," says Anna Königson Koopmans, Marketing Director Commercial for Essity's professional hygiene business.

For more information:

www.torkusa.com/officehygiene

¹ June 2022 Behaviorally - Qualitative and quantitative office segment research with 600+ respondents in North America and Europe

² Bringing the Office Customer to Life, a quantitative study done in 2020 for Essity

³ Statista: average across 2017 to 2021, 185 respondents North America, building service contractors and commercial cleaning provider

⁴ Based on customer measurements and feedback for dispenser checks over 6 months before vs after installing Tork Vision Cleaning (between June-December 2019). Measured across 16 sites connected to Tork Vision Cleaning, with each dispenser check taking approx. 20 seconds

⁵ Measured across nearly 13,000 connected dispensers between June-December 2019, based on time per month that a dispenser is in an empty status against total time per month.