One CSR initiative with multiple benefits: Indoor Air Quality, cleaning companies’ best ally

• The cleaning and hygiene services sector is today particularly challenging —big costs, high demand, employment hardship… What if we told you that there is one single common axis of action that could solve several main problems of your business? Here we explain how to easily integrate indoor air quality (IAQ) into your CSR strategy and the amazing benefits it brings.

• The cleaning and hygiene industry is today a particularly challenging sector. Faced with strong competition, low margins, rising energy prices and shortages... Both, products and service distributors need to be more innovative and adaptable than ever in order to succeed.

  Find out more about the industry’s challenges and the role of cleaning product manufacturers in this article.

  But contract cleaning companies have a major added challenge that they do not always share with other branches of the hygiene industry: we talk about employment hardships.

  • Professional cleaning agents have a high turnover rate; this is due partly to the ever-increasing safety concerns (e.g. fear of cleaning products toxicity or accident risks), that hinder recruitment and employee retention.
  • In addition, they suffer from high occupational sick leave, which reduces job satisfaction and, naturally, means higher costs for employers in terms of lost productivity and health insurance.

  This —in a post-covid context where the demand for cleaning services has exponentially increased— leads companies to desperately seek solutions to attract employees and differentiate themselves from their competitors.

  CSR: overcoming labour challenges AND increasing competitiveness in one single initiative

  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to all decisions that a business makes to generate a positive environmental and/or social impact. Investing in CSR can therefore bring a wide range of benefits, both in terms of sustainability and profitability.

  Each company adjusts its CRS strategy to meet its particular needs, and this can sometimes lead to tedious, complex, and too divergent processes and measures… What if we told you that there is a single common axis of action that has a significant impact on the multiple main problems of the contract cleaning companies?

  Improving IAQ: the big multi-level solution for professional cleaning players

  We spend more than 85% of our time indoors, breathing air that is on average 8 times more polluted than the outside’s. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) can have very harmful short and long-term effects on health —such as respiratory issues, headaches, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, sleep and concentration problems… Thus, bad IAQ is a serious threat to employees well-being (inside and outside the hygiene sector).

  Why improving IAQ is a multi-level solution? Actually, by taking measures to improve indoor air, we are working on several CSR domains at the same time:
  

  • Environmental:
    - Reducing air pollutants’ presence
  • Workplace:
    - Enhancing workplace health and safety
    - Promoting employment and providing better working conditions
  • Social:
    - Providing access to healthier services to customers or service beneficiaries
    - Raising awareness of the IAQ issue

  Combatting indoor air pollution provides, therefore, a multitude of benefits. How to get them all in one simple initiative?

  Sources of indoor air pollution and how to tackle it at once

  The main source of indoor air emissions is everyday products. These include, of course, cleaning products, which release potentially harmful chemicals into the air —where they may remain for a long time! This won’t only have a big impact on users, but also on the occupants of the cleaned premises
  —decreasing their productivity by up to 21% or increasing absenteeism by up to 57%.

  The most effective way to prevent air pollution is to control potential sources of emissions. Least emissive products can be identified with the Air Label Score certification. Air Label Score tests products according to the most comprehensive and stringent standards to provide the best —clear, transparent, reliable and international— information on product emissions into indoor air. You can find here more information on the label's methodology.

  Many brands and manufacturers already provide Air Label Score A+ certified products for professional use; cleaning services companies only need to integrate these products into their services or ask their regular suppliers to become certified. By switching to certified cleaning products, businesses can improve indoor air quality, protect the health of their cleaning staff and their clients… and much more:

  • Positioning in a new market segment —by responding to a growing consumer concern, with a consequent client increase.
  • Increased customer trust and loyalty —as a result of an even more positive reputation, brand image and attractiveness.
  • Improved employee morale and well-being —and consequent increases in efficiency, retention and hiring.
  • Cost savings —in the short and long term, mainly health, productivity and absenteeism costs.
  • Anticipating regulations —expected soon in many countries as IAQ is a main governmental priority. Discover some of the nearest regulations here.
  • Increased innovation —best CSR practices are recognised and awarded in the industry (for example: the European cleaning & hygiene awards, or the impending Trophées RSE of the French Cleaning Companies Federation)
  • etc.

  If you want more information about the certification, the certified brands or if you would like to be put in contact with a supplier of certified products, please do not hesitate to contact us.

• Sources: BDC’s, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Study (2019), Air&Me, Santé group (2022), Forum Santé Environnement - Élaboration PRSE4 (2022), Magazine Services (2022), European cleaning & hygiene awards (2023), Magazine Services (2023)