We recently carried out a customer survey about attitudes to cleaning as a result of COVID-19.
A huge thank you to everyone who responded. Here’s a summary of what people said.
Are you doing more cleaning and sanitisation than you used to?
The majority said yes, and we weren’t surprised by that! Many of our customers are in industries where cleaning and hygiene has always been very important but even for those, there’s more emphasis on sanitisation in all areas, rather than just the process critical functions.
Specific activities mentioned were more surface wiping / disinfecting and also fogging. Businesses are now much more aware of the multitude of touch points, from door handles to card machines and computer keyboards – things that wouldn’t necessarily have been part of a hygiene regime in the past.
Do you expect to continue with these new cleaning regimes?
The general view is that current standards will need to be maintained for the foreseeable future, to help prevent the risk of spreading the virus, and also because customers expect it.
What are businesses doing differently as a result of COVID-19?
The most common changes mentioned were:
• Wearing masks where required
• Frequent tests and temperature checking of staff
• Flexible working patterns and working from home in some cases
• Social distancing in offices and shops
• Hand sanitisation points around premises
• More frequent sanitisation in high use areas
• More deep cleaning
Using a cordless fogger for sanitisation
Are cleaning and sanitisation requirements impacting your business?
There are mixed views on this – some respondents said “no”. Those who said “yes” generally had a positive view of things. Here are some of the specific comments:
• The extra cleaning does take more time, but now we are in a system, it doesn’t really impact us
• This is a positive impact and shouldn’t be perceived as negative. Standards have exceeded expectations and solidified our business in a competitive market
• We are having to buy more cleaning products and add additional labour hours
• Trouble getting supplies on time
Increased costs of running businesses
Most of our respondents mentioned activities that inevitably add cost to their business operations, including increasing staffing and the day-to-day costs of cleaning and hygiene supplies.
We’ve already seen an increase in demand for certain types of cleaning equipment and it seems that businesses are now factoring the need for efficient cleaning equipment into their plans for the next 12 months, particularly fogging and sanitising equipment, vacuum cleaners, carpet and upholstery cleaners and floor scrubbers.
What we’ve learned from this survey
The responses weren’t surprising overall, as we know ourselves that COVID-19 has had an impact on the way we manage our business, and look after the safety of our staff and customers, what we found refreshing was the positivity expressed by several of our respondents.
There were references to new processes in place, more efficient ways of doing things, and references to the positive impacts of the changes. There were also comments about customer co-operation and working together, with confidence that the new cleaning “regimes” are of benefit and likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Thanks again to those who completed our survey.
The randomly selected winner was Bill Tuffrey of W A Foods Ltd, who will soon be taking delivery of a new PS480 sweeper.
If you’re looking at buying new cleaning equipment, particularly types of equipment you may not have used before – we’re here to offer and advice and guidance if you need it – don’t hesitate to give us a call.
