Half of French employees do not wash their hands after going to the toilet, according to an international survey which highlights the cost of poor hygiene at work.
From the urinal to the computer keyboard, without going through the sink… A very banal oversight. Half of French employees (49%) do not wash their hands after going to the toilet, according to a survey released Wednesday for World Toilet Day.
The French dirty, the British are doing better
The survey was carried out on 1000 employees in several countries (Australia, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom) by Rentokil Initial, a firm specializing in hygiene services for businesses and administrations. And if we are to believe the results, the employees of France do not seem very attentive to the hygiene of their hands… Even though they find their toilets very dirty!
Indeed, in terms of hand washing, France comes in penultimate position, just behind the Italians, who are 54.5% to admit not stopping at the sink after the WC. Last year, the same investigation had taken place, with similar results. The Germans (35%), Australians (35%) and the British (26.9%) were doing well.
Phone and tablets in the toilet
But it gets even worse, according to the study: in addition to urinating, nearly one in 5 French employees admits to using their phone, one in 10 takes the opportunity to surf the Internet, and more than one in 20 would even go up to reading a working document in the small corners! “These are all factors that tend to dangerously increase the risk of bacterial transmission within the workspace,” note the study’s authors.
In fact, employees spend more time in the toilet than they imagine: 38.2 hours per year (3:05 per visit, 3 times per day), or more than a working week per year! The French are ahead of the British (41.3 hrs / year) and the Germans (45.8 hrs / year), and followed by Australians (37.6 hrs / year), Italians (37.2 hrs / year) .
14.5 billion lost
Despite everything, the French know well that their behavior is not very recommendable. They are 59% to affirm that better sanitary hygiene would improve their well-being at work. Some would even be ready to reduce their salary by 150 euros per year by improving hygiene at their workplace …
According to the firm, which conducted another survey in 2013, the lack of hygiene in the office represented a total cost of 14.5 billion in 2013, due to sick leave and wasted time. This represents a loss of GDP of 0.7%. France is the country where the lack of hygiene in the office has the strongest economic impact.
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