Recently, the workplace platform Envoy surveyed 800 company leaders who shared the changes they are employing to encourage employees to return to the office.
According to Envoy, “After two years of largely remote work, the workplace is back front and centre. Folks are getting tired of their makeshift home offices and workplaces around the world are slowly but surely starting to get busy again.”
Incentives in a hybrid working model
“However, not every company is back to pre-pandemic workplace foot traffic.” The survey also reveals that 88% of companies are using incentives to get their employees back on site, 77% of organisations have adopted a hybrid working model and 5% have no office attendance policy.
Germophobia is a barrier that prevents at least some of the employees from returning to a crowded office
The range of incentives is wide, and includes food in most places, from ordering pizza to a private chef who cooks in the office, as well as fitness trainers, yoga and hairdressing, and manicure services. But there seems to be another barrier that prevents at least some of the employees from returning to a crowded office - germaphobia.
Research methodology
Bio-Lab conducted research inside a typical office location used regularly by approximately 100 people.
As explained by Dr. Amichai Yavlovich, Head of Microbiology for Bio-Lab, "We performed a sample and checked the presence of common bacteria such as coliforms, E. Coli, Streptococcus and yeast. The data in the CFU/g (colony-forming unit per gram) table represent an overall count of microbial colonies per gram."
Results of the study
According to the study, these are the ten germiest surfaces at the office:
The study was conducted for the visual-AI platform company Oosto. While the front door handle is usually an immediate suspect, the study demonstrates that the most infected places are areas that many people touch but are rarely sterilised.
Touchless access control solutions
According to Oosto, "Pre-COVID-19, employee safety was mostly about security, allowing only authorised people to enter and alerting the presence of people on a watchlist such as shoplifters or casino cheaters.”
“Now, a growing number of organisations are turning to touchless technologies such as facial biometrics to minimise risks associated with COVID while maintaining the health of employees and visitors. Many employers are now looking for touchless solutions for access control, time attendance, and other processes involving no contact with surfaces while ensuring employee safety.”