8 Ways Working Night Shifts is Putting Your Health at Risk

Did you know that lack of enough sleep, as well as lack of exposure to natural light, can seriously affect your productivity and even health?

Those are the reasons why a lot of businesses advise their employees to have good sleeping habits. They also try to introduce as much natural light into their offices as possible.

Sleep is responsible for the repair and healing of a person’s heart and blood vessels. That is why a

That is why a severe and ongoing lack of sleep is linked to increased health risks including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, workplace injuries, and depression.

While these hazards are no longer a secret for people whose jobs require shift work, many still can’t completely give up working at night. Some jobs often require employees to work at night – these include:

• the staff at medical facilities
• police officers
• customer support representatives
• truck drivers

Because it is part of their jobs, these employees have to fight their bodies’ natural need for a rest at night and instead, stay awake, focused, and working.

This can be very difficult because working at night runs against the body’s natural circadian rhythm. This fight is not without its casualties, and unfortunately, the greatest casualty is one’s health.

What is The Circadian Clock?

The circadian clock is basically a timer that lets glands in your system know when it’s time to release certain hormones. It helps control your mood, your alertness level, your body temperature, and other aspects of your body’s daily cycle.

Every human’s vital signs are regulated by the circadian rhythm. This includes our sleeping and waking cycles.

These regular periods of change are important to ensure correct bodily functioning. This rhythm depends on external cues such as natural light and darkness to determine whether to start or end different functions.

Humans have evolved to be naturally active during the day when we perform all our daily activities, and inactive at night time when we head home and get a good night’s rest to recharge for the next day.

This circadian rhythm in our bodies matches the daily natural light/dark cycle of every day. This rhythm can be disrupted or thrown off when a person is continuously exposed to bright lights during nighttime and darkness during the daytime.

Aside from this disruption to your body clock, there are still a lot of health risks involved in working at night. So, how does working the night shift hurt your health?

1. It robs you of good quality sleep

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Humans recharge through rest and sleep and the night time is the perfect time to do it because it’s dark and quiet.

For people working at night, their serotonin or “feel-good hormone” can drop to drastically low levels. These people may also suffer from the effects of circadian disruptions as they are trying to stay awake while working.

This leads to lower sleep quality of these employees even when they finally get the chance to rest. Anyone would struggle to function properly after just one poor night’s sleep, let alone days, weeks, months, or even years of continuous insufficient sleep.

This problem builds up to what we call ‘sleep debt’ – the snowballing effect of not getting the right amount and quality of sleep over a long period of time. And obviously, the only way to pay up all your sleep debt is to establish a proper sleeping habit and get sufficient amounts of sleep.

2. It Increases the Risk of Diabetes

The lack of sleep affects the hormone levels in a person’s body as well as his body’s ability to regulate and metabolise glucose. If a person is excessively sleepy all the time, it is more likely that they will gain weight and has a higher risk of having type 2 diabetes.

According to a study published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, it is men who work at irregular hours that are more likely to develop diabetes because of the impact of this nature of work to a person’s insulin activity.

This explains the reasons behind the relationship between insufficient sleep and the risk of diabetes.

3. It Ups Your Risk of Obesity

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Not getting enough sleep or sleeping “against” the body’s biological clock could increase a person’s risk of becoming obese.

This is because the lack of sleep can slow the metabolism down drastically and change the way your cells respond to insulin. This makes the body use less energy in performing simple tasks like eating and breathing.

Not enough sleep encourages weight gain by slowing the rate at which calories are burned, as well as by boosting hunger. People who get insufficient sleep tend to eat more than they actually need.

4. It Puts Women at Risk of Breast Cancer

According to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer, severe lack of sleep caused by working the night shift raises the risk of breast cancer in women by 30%.

Women who have worked the night shift for least four years, including those who worked night shift three times (or fewer) per week, are at the highest risk because their daily rhythms are often disturbed.

Basically, anyone with a disrupted biological body clock due to shift work, also known as circadian rhythm disorder, is probably at risk.

Researchers suspect that the reason behind this link is the fact that the body’s internal clock controls so many important biological functions.

Cancers grow faster when a person’s wake/sleep cycle is manipulated and the production of melatonin by the pineal gland is suppressed due to light exposure during the night.

5. It Results in Negative Metabolic Changes

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Massive lack of proper sleep can throw a person’s metabolism into disarray. When a person works the night shift, the levels of leptin hormone in their body drop. Leptin plays an important role in weight regulation. It also affects blood sugar and insulin.

Night shift workers will have their bodies become resistant to insulin. This is a condition that usually kicks off serious health problems including ones we’ve mentioned above: weight gain, diabetes, and even cancer.

When a person who gets normal sleep and has a healthy body takes in sugar, insulin is released by the pancreas which then travels throughout the body. It signals cells to absorb some of that new glucose.

However, when a person’s body becomes resistant to insulin, the cells will become less responsive to those signals. This result in rising glucose levels in the bloodstream, leading to diabetes, damaging other organs like the eyes, nerves, and kidneys.

6. It Increases the Risk of a Heart Attack

Did you know that a healthy heart starts with a good night’s sleep? Now that we have linked lack of slep to a number of scary health problems, it should no longer be surprising to find out that it also has negative effects on the heart.

This raised risk seems to be independent of lack of exercise, a healthy diet, and other obvious causes. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already warned that sleep deprivation increases the risk of heart attack and that it is just as dangerous as smoking and prolonged sitting.

7. It Leads to Workplace Injury

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Employees working night or graveyard shifts that haven’t been getting sufficient amount of sleep are more prone to work-related injuries than those who work during the day.

This is due to the disruption of a person’s normal sleep patterns that can cause fatigue or drowsiness which will get.

8. It Can Lead to Depression

Night shift work also has an impact on mental health. A study in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health discovered that, in comparison to the day shift workers, depression occurred at a much higher rate among those who worked at night.

In a study in the International Journal on Disability and Human Development in 2008, researchers discovered that shift work tends to increase a person’s risk of developing mood disorders.

In fact, there is a form of depression that is related to insufficient to a complete lack of natural light stimulus in the daytime. It is called Seasonal Affective Disorder and is common in places that have extremely short days during some seasons, like the winter.

This disorder is linked to circadian rhythms being interrupted by light periods that are too short and is treated using bright light therapy.

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In a study conducted at John Hopkins University, researchers tested how disruptive light/dark cycles affects mice. The study revealed that the mice showed depression-like symptoms after they were exposed to darkness and light in alternating, 3.5 hour duration cycles.

This result suggests that when shift workers sleep in dark rooms during the day and work under bright lights at night, their internal and external circadian rhythm factors are being pitted against each other. This results in a depressive state that can be compared to seasonal affective disorders.

While it may be unfortunate that night shifts cannot be completely avoided in some industries, it is important that companies provide quality care for the health and safety of their night shift workers.

Alsco offers health and safety solutions for the workplace with its first aid packages. We also offer managed rental services to give you complete peace-of-mind that your workers are going to be safe at work at all times. Call us today!

Photo Courtesy of Freepik Images by @pressfoto

Treat Your Heart with These 5 Fab Foods

Cardiovascular disease is one of Australia’s major health problems and aside from being a major health issue, it is also one of the biggest problems on the economy.

It is, therefore, critical to take precautionary measures to lower the risk of heart attacks, especially in the workplace.

Your diet is critical in alleviating the risks involved in heart attacks. Moreover, a healthy diet can help you stop gaining weight, and reduce your risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

It is a common misconception that healthy eating is associated with a higher cost of food. Should you ponder on the investment, it is a way cheaper avenue.

Imagine the cost of hospitalisation and health care needed for treatment and recovery. Worse, you may not be alive to even worry about it. Heart attacks are always unexpected and as such, it is a great necessity to have convenient access to an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) within minutes.

Knowing the location of the nearest AED is crucial and can be the difference between life and death. Simply check Heart Attack Help to know the exact location of AEDs in your area or anywhere in the country. It also pays to know the locations of the nearest AED facilities along your route if you are planning to travel.

Reduce Risks of Heart Attacks By Eating Right

Watching what you eat is a good idea. It is, however, exhausting both gastronomically and economically. Spare yourself from worrying about what you can’t eat. Instead, focus on what you can eat.

A steady supply of heart-friendly nutrients such as fibre, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids can be found in vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains.

Here are a few recipes and snack ideas that are easy to prepare and readily available from your local grocery store. Stock up your pantry with these Fab Food delights for a healthier heart.

Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon

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Calories per Serving: 234
Nutrients: 23g of protein, 13g of healthy fats, selenium, and omega-3
Preparation Time: 40 minutes

This savoury, sweet, tangy dish has all the wonderful flavours of honey, ginger and rice vinegar.

Ingredients

• 1 pound centre-cut of salmon fillet
• 2 tablespoons of reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
• 1 minced scallion
• 1 teaspoon of freshly minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

How to Cook

1. Mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, ginger, and scallion in a bowl until all ingredients are perfectly blended together.

2. Slice the salmon into four portions and marinate it with three tablespoons of the prepared mixture. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the broiler. Line a small baking pan with foil and coat it with cooking spray.

4. Drip dry the salmon from the marinade and place it in the pan skin-side down.

5. Cook the salmon and make sure that the pan is at least 10-15 cm from the heat source.

6. The fish is cooked when it turns white. Arrange it on a plate drizzled with the remaining marinade.

7. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Shed Some Light on Dark Chocolate

Image from: Flickr by Tim Sackton

Dark chocolate is proven to help good blood flow. Contrary to the “chocolate” perception, eating dark chocolate is actually very healthy.

It contains many antioxidants as well as flavonols that help improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, as well as reduce the stickiness of blood platelets which makes them less likely to form blood clots.

Always remember that a healthy diet requires moderation.

Excessive consumption of dark chocolate may help aggravate diabetes and other health problems.

Curried Pork Chops with Roasted Apples & Leeks

Image from: Flickr by Annabelle Orozco

Calories per serving: 463
Nutrients: Fat 20g, Cholesterol 100mg, Carbs 39g, Total sugars 24g), Protein 34g, Fibre 6g, Sodium 377mg, Potassium 778mg
Preparation Time: 40 minutes

This healthy, oven-baked pork chop dish is good for 4 servings and it is gluten-free. Roasted apples and leeks lend a sweet-and-tart tang.

If you often take off the dark green tops of the leeks, don’t throw them away this time—they have a delicious savour and become succulently tender when roasted.

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized leeks (washed, cleaned and sliced diagonally)
• 3 large apples (cut into 2.54 cm pieces)
• 4 bone-in, trimmed pork chops (around 1.27 cm to 1.9 cm thick)
• 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon curry powder

How to Cook

1. Preheat the oven to 218.3°C; Place the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2. Coat 2 large rimmed baking sheets with cooking oil spray.

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the leeks, apples, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper.

4. Arrange the apples and leeks mixture on one of the prepared baking sheets. Roast it on the lower rack of the oven and stir once or twice until the apples are tender and the leeks have wilted. This will take around 20-25 minutes.

5. You can prepare the pork chops while the apples and leeks are in the oven. Use a small bowl to mix the curry powder and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Brush this paste-like marinade to both sides of your pork chop.

6. Place the pork chops on the second baking sheet and turn on the broiler to high setting. Cook it for 4-6 minutes. You can use an instant-read thermometer horizontally into the meat, but make sure that it does not touch the meat. The chops are perfectly cooked if it registers 62.7°C.

7. Combine the vinegar and white sugar in a large bowl. Toss in the apple and leeks mixture. Serve together with the pork chops.

Blueberries – the Super Fruit

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Filled with antioxidants and phytoflavinoids, these berries are also high in potassium and vitamins C, E, and B. Therefore, they are rightfully labelled as a super fruit. Not only can they lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, but they are also anti-inflammatory.

Studies show that blueberries contain the highest antioxidant capacity of all commonly consumed fruits and vegetables. The antioxidants in blueberries have been shown to protect the body from oxidative damage. It increases the levels of the “bad” cholesterol – a critical phase in the pathway towards heart disease.

Moreover, consuming 50 grammes of blueberries every day for eight weeks can significantly affect blood pressure alleviating risks for heart disease.

Get your supply of blueberries fresh from your local farmer’s market. You can also buy the properly packaged blueberries from nutrition shops.

A Nice Cup of Coffee

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Your favourite morning brew is more than just the strongly aromatic, bittersweet beverage. It’s also known to be full of active compounds and minerals that have a variety of health-promoting features.

Coffee’s health perks are related to naturally-occurring compounds in coffee beans other than caffeine. Coffee contains hundreds of unique phytochemicals that help reduce inflammation, making it good for your heart.

Drinking coffee regularly has some great health benefits, such as:

• a lower incidence of Parkinson’s
• certain types of cancers
• reduced rates of DNA damage

It is, however, important to note that you should only consume coffee made of natural coffee beans.

Do Your Share – Help Save Lives at Your Workplace

Alsco’s Rented Defibrillator Services

Be on top of your game. By eating healthy foods, you can exponentially cut your chances of suffering from heart attacks.

Share your regimen with others especially in your workplace to help save lives.

Speaking of saving lives, Alsco offers a variety of first aid and safety services including our Automated External Defibrillator (AED) which are essential in related emergency situations.

Our professional operators are on standby to answer any of your inquiries. Call us now at 0800 4 ALSCO.

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4 Ways to Deal With Workplace Stressors

Stress has long been understood to result from pressure in the world around us coupled with the strain that happens within us.

Things that don’t stress us out in some situations can pretty much stress us out in others.

That said, it’s pretty obvious that a workplace is a place where stressors abound and stress is rife.

Pinpointing what these stressors are is critical to effectively manage them and turning your office into a healthy workplace with happy employees.

In this article, we look at the very real problem of stress, what causes it in the workplace and offer 4 effective ways to properly manage it when it’s there.

What’s the big deal with stress?

Stress can be observed as a person’s reaction to the situations they encounter. It’s certainly reflecting on a person’s behaviour, feelings, mental state, and can even have obvious physical symptoms.

Everybody deals with stress in their own way, but basically, you know a person is stressed when they’re more erratic, irritable, and even aggressive coupled with a lowered drive for work and impaired functionality.

Even those that mask these things well will find their stress reflected in the quality of their work output.

The stressors that abound

There are far too many stressors in the workplace to discuss in one article, but there are several that are worth focusing on:

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• The work itself. Having a heavy workload can’t be helped sometimes, it’s true. But it’s still critical to understand the exact pressure triggers that your employees have at work.
• The level of pressure. Again, this is something that can’t always be helped when the deadlines approach fast, but it does have a very significant effect on stress levels—always to the detriment of the person being pressured.
• The work environment. Employees place a lot of value in the work environment. This includes the people they work with and place they work at. If the workplace is messy and unsanitary and the coworkers unpleasant and gloomy, the stress levels rise rapidly. Pay extra attention to workplace washroom.

Take these all together and you have a recipe for disaster—especially if it all goes unnoticed and unaddressed. So how does one manage all of these? Here are the 4 best ways.

1. Identify the Specifics of These Stressors

When you’re caught up in the stress yourself, it’s very easy not to notice what’s causing it. Stress has a way of sneaking up on you.

While you are thinking that you are upset because your pen stopped working, you fail to realise that it is the inadequate workload and the approaching deadline what makes you break that pen in half.

If you’re in a position to do so, take the time to carefully observe what’s going on in the office.

Does the workload really mirror the stress felt by everyone? Is someone putting too much pressure on everyone else? Is the work area conducive to stress or productivity? The best way to answer these questions is to talk to the people working around you.

2. Acknowledge the Most Affected

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Once you’ve identified what stressors exist and how these affect people specifically, the next step is to acknowledge those most affected.

It’s actually very effective when your boss shows that they know you’re under a lot of stress.

Acknowledging that your employee is doing their best when the conditions are not perfect means a lot.

It shows a great deal of care and concern that many people long for when under the weight of stress.

Again, the way to do this is to sit down and talk to these people.

3. Take Proactive Steps Where Possible

Don’t wait until you notice that your employees are crashing down under the weight of stress. Do something before it even starts to happen. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

You can do this simply by  doing these things today:

• Make your workplace clean and comfortable for your workers.
• Think about their workload and deadlines and make sure they are reasonable.
• Spot the interpersonal issues and solve them in time.
• Take some steps that will help your employees get enough exercise and eat healthily.

All these things will help prevent stress before it even starts making problems around your workplace.

4. Set Up Breaks!

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Lastly, taking much-needed breaks can easily relieve workplace stress. If possible, make the pauses long and truly distant from the stressors.

A trip to the park or even the spa might just be what the doctor ordered. If such big breaks simply aren’t possible, then little things like a surprise box of pizza or doughnuts (or both!) can do wonders.

The keys, really, centre around being more conscientious about what’s going on around you and reacting appropriately.

Again, it’s important to ask questions and talk to your coworkers. That done, deal with it with a touch of care and compassion. It goes a long way.

At Alsco, our biggest priorities are employee happiness and safety. When you attend to these, you invest in the most important assets your company has.

With an extensive product line and packages geared towards safety and sanitation, Alsco has all you need to help mitigate employee stress.

Reach out to us and we’ll help you pick out the products and packages that meet your needs specifically. We’re all about meeting our customers’ needs exactly as they need them met.

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6 Effective Housekeeping Hacks for the Workplace

Housekeeping has always been essential for, well, your home—hence the name.

And when you talk about housekeeping, that always implies cleaning floors and surfaces, getting rid of dust and dirt, and reorganising everything to its proper place.

That still holds true for the office but “office-keeping” takes cleaning to a whole different level.

That is, safety is often the watchword for office housekeeping.

More than at home, good office housekeeping protects your employees from injury and harm. This, in turn, can improve your productivity and overall morale.

Additionally, the perfectly clean and safe office makes great impressions on visiting clients—which is always a plus.

So how does one actually get good office housekeeping done? We’ll share with you 6 great ways to keep that office up to par in terms of cleanliness and true freshness.

1. Go for Safety Against Trips, Slips, and Falls

Occupational hazards and injuries are a literal pain in the neck for your employees and a painfully figurative one for you. One of the most common causes of workplace injuries are slips and falls.

Moreover, workspaces should maintain cleanliness and orderliness for safety. That is the only way to prevent those trips, slips and consequential injuries.

This specifically pertains to floor areas that tend to be vulnerable spots, especially when they are wet. Alsco’s mats are the perfect option here as they effectively absorb dirt and liquid while providing traction for safety.

2. Eliminate Foul Odours

Bad smells and foul odours might not cause many injuries as slips and falls, but they can certainly make a day wholly unpleasant.

This is especially relevant if your business entertains clients in site. It can make or break any potential deals you might have in the works.

Alsco’s Odour Control system features customizable time-release intervals to allow a day-long extrusion of wonderful scents in order to keep your workspaces smelling fresh and clean. This also has an amazing psychological effect on the people you’re working with.

3. Prioritise Accessible First Aid

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When it comes to workplace safety, first aid is a very critical component that mustn’t be ignored. In fact, it’s a critical component for compliance that has to be dealt with promptly.

Again, Alsco provides a wide range of First Aid options from portable kits all the way up to a full station. All of these contain everything you need for many different office-emergency scenarios.

We even offer in-office training options to make sure that your employees are all capable of handling any emergency.

This is a great solution as it makes everyone participative in the maintenance of safety in the office.

4. Workwear Also Matters

If you want to keep your workplace looking neat, you need to deal with your employees’ appearance, as well.

To this end, a variety of workplace uniforms is a great investment depending on the nature of the business or industry that you’re working in.

Whether it’s industrial safety, medical hygiene, food processing sterilisation, Alsco’s uniform options are varied and industry-specific to ensure that your personnel is good-looking and protected from harm and injury.

With rental options available, you can save on expenses and budgeting when you get our uniforms.

5. Create a Codified Set of Rules

Another important component of safety is to create a set of rules to follow.

Firstly, make sure there’s a simple handbook to guide your people in most likely emergency scenarios and situations.

Secondly, label high-risk areas with proper guidance and instructions in order to reinforce the points made and to ensure on-point safety and cleanliness.

Examples of these places are entrances, washrooms, and even the pantry. Making these visual will go a long way to ensuring they’re fully understood and followed. This way, it’s always clear to everyone what they need to do.

6. Equip Your Washrooms With the Necessary Equipment

Lastly, with a clear need for safety and cleanliness within the washroom, it’s essential to invest in washroom technologies that work best for you and your needs.

The Alsco product line includes components that include:

• Feminine hygiene
• Hand hygiene
• Odour control
• Deep cleaning and many more.

All of these come with a range of options that can be customised to fit your company’s specific needs.

Image from: Flickr by Peter Burka

Everything from hypoallergenic hand soap to sanitizer can be selected to match your own desires. You can even choose between manual and automatic systems that provide for affordability or convenience respectively.

Alsco has long been Australia’s top provider of quality supplemental services centred around employee safety, comfort, and hygiene.

With the purchase or rental options available, our products and services fit any and every budget.

Give us a call today and we’ll be more than happy to provide you with fully customizable packages that are tailored to fit your needs specifically.

Photo: Álvaro Vega F.

8 Reasons to Get Your Employees Pumped Up on Fitness

Between the stresses of the day to day grind, and—more often than not—the commute to work, it’s easy for employees to get tired and drained.

When that happens, it’s not surprising that productivity and drive get affected negatively. If you have a company full of unproductive workers, your business will be the first to suffer.

This is exactly why keeping employees healthy makes good business sense.

The key elements of health are exercise, proper diet, and good hygiene.

As an employer, you can do your best to have a clean and healthy workplace and even offer some healthy snacks and fitness programs.

Many companies today are quick to invest in the physical fitness and wellbeing of their employees.

Of course, offering a physical fitness plan and getting people to go for it are two different things entirely. Which is why we give you 8 reasons why you should really get them motivated.

1. Fit employees stay healthy

When an employee is tired and worn out, their immune system isn’t working at top efficiency. This leaves them very vulnerable to getting sick. This is especially true when there’s a flu bug jumping from employee to employee.

Getting your people fit means also boosting their immune systems. That will result in lowered absence rates and even less spend on health care payouts.

For some employees, taking on a more physically active role can be life-changing. Take Domenik, for example, whose job as a Service Delivery Person for Alsco in Auckland changed his life in less than 3 months.

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2. Fit employees are more active at work

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Being fit contributes to better endurance in other fields, as well. This means that stress, commute and other physical stains less affect those that are in good physical shape.

After a long commute and a stressful day, you’re more likely to feel lacking in the energy department when you’re not fit.

Naturally, this affects the quality and calibre of work being delivered.

When you encourage fitness in your employees, you keep their energy levels on the up and up, meaning that they better handle their workloads with vim and vigour.

3. Fit employees have higher self-confidence

Let’s be honest, being in an unfit body isn’t the best way to feel confident. It makes us feel more conscious of our appearance and less likely to drive ourselves onward.

Being fit will help build your employee’s self-confidence. This is especially true when they start to notice the changes in their body. This, in turn, will drive them to go beyond what they can do and challenge them to excel.

4. Fit employees make others confident too

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Get one or two employees on the fitness waggon and you’re bound to attract even more to follow. Fitness is contagious!

A lot of people think that fitness is something that other people do and that it’s not for them.

That is the precise thought that’s holding your employees back from taking up exercising.

When they see how it works on a real, live example in the office, they will be inspired to try fitness themselves.

That’s especially true when it comes to energy levels. Someone lively will inspire others to be lively too.

5. Fit employees are more goal-oriented

Fit employees often have a vision for what and where they want to be in terms of their shape and health. It can be a target weight or a target body form, but having these fitness goals actually extends into their work lives.

Fitness fans easily adopt a goal-oriented mind frame.

You’ll find that motivating your employees to keep fit also pushes them harder to reach their professional goals. This will pull up productivity even more.

6. Fit employees act much better

Exercise has long been found to release “feel good” chemicals in the body as well as release pent-up stress. This has a profound effect on a person’s perspective on life as well as their general behaviour.

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While those same people might once have been dour and glum, physically fit employees are far more likely to become positive and bright. This is something that can literally lighten the mood around the office too.

7. Fit employees are far less stressed

Apart from the release of chemicals like endorphins that promote positive outlooks, exercise and physical fitness also give employees an outlet for everything that might be stressing them out.

Be it work or their personal lives, encouraging them to keep fit is also encouraging them to vent out all the stress that has been piling up inside them.

Less stressed employees are more relaxed and better prepared for all tests and trials of the office work.

8. Fit employees notice your efforts for them

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Take all the benefits mentioned above and try to implement them into the everyday routines around your office.

Your employees will notice the effort you are putting out for their wellbeing and they’ll love you for it. Because who wouldn’t want to feel cared for by their bosses?

This will not only improve productivity, but it will also lower turnover and attrition rates in the long run. Nobody wants to leave an office where they feel taken care of.

At Alsco, we tend to your company’s very specific hygienic needs—all for the safety and wellbeing of your employees.

Let us take the issues of sanitation, hygiene, and general workplace safety off your hands and leave you to deal with other aspects of employee wellness.

We offer many great products in highly customisable packages. Give us a call today and we’ll come up with a plan that is specific and perfect for your needs. Reach out to us today.

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The 4 Employee Well-Being Aspects You Need to Consider

Investing in employees’ health is the best investment any company can make. After all, if your employees aren’t in the pink of health, they aren’t going to be performing at their utmost.

Now, when you speak of health, many people assume that has to do with physical well-being. While that is true, general well-being is much more than its physical aspect.

There are actually at least four factors to consider if you want to provide holistic care for your people. You need to think about their emotions, life-work balance and even go into every little detail when it comes to workplace hygiene.

So, let’s take a look at these aspects and figure out the things you can do to improve your employees’ well-being.

1. Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings?

There are two ways to look at the emotional well-being: the first is personal, the second is professional.

Emotions and moods caused by relations and events in one’s personal life shape the personal emotional well-being of that person.

While those issues are best left at home, that is not always possible. Especially if the low emotional well-being is caused by clinical depression, anxiety, or some sort of tragic event.

In that case, looking the other way is not a solution. The employer should reach out to the employee in question and try to help by offering counselling, contact with the support groups or at least days off for treatment.

Image from: Pexels by Katii Bishop

Professional emotional well-being has a lot to do with how employees feel about where they work. This is a very important aspect to consider as our moods strongly affect our work focus and productivity.

When we’re happy, giddy even, we tend to perform better as we’re pumped up. When we’re hurt, sad, or down in the dumps, we tend to lean towards the lethargic behaviour.

These cases dip and dive in our work quality. The same can be said of the emotions directed towards the company.

If an employee doesn’t feel comfortable, respected, and taken care of in their workplace, they are less likely to give their best.

The answer: There’s much to be said about drawing the line when getting friendly with your employees. It doesn’t hurt, though, to be a friendly face willing to ask “What’s up?” with genuine concern.

This usually helps employees feel comfortable and acknowledged in their workplace. Also, give them a company they can be proud of and happy to be with. Keep things bright and clean, and host team-building activities.

2. Money, Money, Money

All things considered, your employees’ bottom line is to earn money. That’s why they applied for and accepted their jobs. So, even with all the perks and good vibes in the workplace, what matters most to them is what they earn.

When faced with mountains of expenses, bills, rent, and even emergencies, it’s not hard to see why employees can stress out over their finances.

Image from: Pexels by Pixabay

Now, you’re likely thinking, “I pay them! What more is there to it?” Well, what a lot of employers don’t take into account is the shifting costs of living relative to economic shifts in the world you are all a part of.

Inflation, market dips, current events—all these can shrink the value of their paychecks year in and year out.

The answer: Show you care. Take the time to understand the financial situations of your employees. If you can, adapt to these with a small raise that help them get by better.

Failing that, offer perks, coupons and discounts for things like groceries and medical services. Not only do you build rapport, but you also actually make a real difference that will reflect in better productivity.

3. It’s All in The Mind, and That’s Not OK

Stress and burnout are common workplace afflictions and one that can really do a number on your employees.

After all, when your employees reach a breaking point, you can’t expect them to keep pushing forward. People don’t work that way.

Image from: Pexels by Tim Gouw

Stress and burnout can happen for many reasons – sometimes it’s emotional, sometimes it’s financial, sometimes it’s even the commute to work and a bad work-life balance.

The thing to know is that—no matter how insignificant these reasons might seem to you, they are very serious to your employees. Ignoring it will only make it worse.

Being in a constant state of burnout, especially if it is not acknowledged, makes people down-spiral into depression and anxiety. These, further, cause much more serious physical illnesses and conditions.

The answer: Enforce break times! Make sure that your employees know that you’re all for them stopping to catch their breath.

If you can fill that time with relaxing activities, all the better! The whole point, however, is making sure that there are moments when your employees know they can ease up and not think too much about work.

4. Let’s Get Physical

The overall health of every individual is greatly influenced by their physical activity. Health rarely comes to those that wait for it in their chair or bed. Experts recommend at least half an hour of exercise a day.

When it comes to people that work in the offices, these 30 minutes can easily be broken into two or three intervals of light office exercising for better health.

Still, physical well-being does not only rely on what you do. Where you do it is also an issue. More precisely, the level of hygiene and cleanliness of your surroundings influences your health greatly.

Image from: Pixabay by MagicDesk

The office that isn’t clean enough and has a horrible washroom will have a lot of sick days on their hands. For that to get fixed, every employer needs to take extra care about cleaning.

The answer: Alsco provides for hygienic needs of your company through its line of Fresh and Clean products. From Odour Control to Anti-slip Mats, we have all the products you need to ensure a clean and safe workplace.

This will help keep your employees in the best of health and ensure that their well-being is well taken care of. Contact us today and together we’ll work out a custom plan fit for your company’s needs.

Natural Light and The Workplace Comfort It Brings

No matter how bright they can get, no matter how innovative and evolved the technology behind it, artificial light will never hold an ironic candle to natural light.

Our bodies know this truth well. Which is why a long day under artificial lighting always leaves us somewhat drained and weary.

With that in mind and the fact that natural light is completely free, it behoves one to wonder why the workplace doesn’t seem to capitalize on this one inexhaustible source of illumination more.

Here we look at several awesome benefits of natural light—and why you should totally get on this trend to achieve a healthy, sustainable workplace.

It Lowers Your Energy Consumption Dramatically

Image from: Pixabay by geralt

If it wasn’t entirely obvious, relying more on natural light means you rely on artificial lighting far, far less.

That means that you will see a dramatic decrease in your workplace’s energy consumption.

Apart from being a great boon to the environment at large, this saves you quite a lot on your monthly bills.

Admittedly, you can’t expect to totally do away with artificial lighting, especially if you’re the type of company that just has to have a nightshift.

During the day, however, it’s all a matter of efficient distribution. First among these are your windows—you’ll need big ones. Second, are a few well-placed reflective surfaces.

Naturally, the question you’d ask is: will the investment in all these things be worth it? The answer is a resounding “yes”. All these bits and pieces might cost you, but it will only cost you once and never again.
Making the most of natural light can save up to 75% of the energy consumed in lighting and even cooling buildings during the day.

It Makes Your People Healthier

Image from: Flickr by David Wall

The reason we do so well in natural light is that we (and our ancestors) have acclimated to it through our evolutionary history.

Now, natural light has its own spectrum of, well, light that artificial sources can never truly, fully emulate.

This dissonance is one of the biggest causes of eyestrain. It has a lot to do with how our eyes need to constantly adjust to the amount of light it takes in and the specific wavelength this is in.

This can cause headaches, nausea and a whole lot of other associated illnesses and conditions.

That’s not to mention the damage it can cause your eyesight. An investment in natural light is an investment in health and, over the years, it has been found that natural light also promotes feelings of wellness, fewer headaches, attentiveness, and overall better quality of life.

All That Positivity Will Pay Off

Image from: Flickrby University of Exeter

Literally. With less eyestrain, fewer headaches, better attentiveness, you end up having happier employees. And that’s where it all comes together. All those things mean you have a stronger sense of teamwork, greater drive and motivation, and you’ll even make your employees simply love working where they work.

If it hasn’t hit you yet, that also means improved productivity and employee performance across the board. That, in turn, translates to great profitability for your company. All of that comes with just a switch to something that is already free and in abundance.

How You Get All That Sweet Natural Light

No one will ever expect you to up and remodel your entire building—especially if you don’t, in fact, own the entire building. But it’s really all about the little things.

Image from: Flickr Image by Jerry Huddleston

First, focus on the windows. Getting full-pane windows lets the most light in the most direct way possible. If you invest double-paned energy-efficient windows, then they can do all that while helping to regulate temperatures as well.

Second, if you have access to your roof, skylights and light tubes are also a great way to go. Naturally, skylights bring the most natural light in, but there’s that risk of causing temperatures to rise indoors. Light tubes are a more compact but nonetheless effective option.

Third, heliostats can actively catch sunlight throughout the day and deflect this light into your building. These are especially effective on the sides of your building that face away from the sun. Think of them as artsy, outdoor installations that help the entire system.

Lastly, it would support these systems immensely to invest in open office layouts. This setup means less need for reflecting light around tight corners. Adding in a few glass walls and dividers means enhancing the effect all around!

Throw in a Spot of Clean

Alsco’s Floorcare Services

With all this light cast into your office, it wouldn’t do to have a dirty office. That’s why it makes sense to also invest in cleanliness. For that, you have Alsco Mats. These Evolution Mats are made from earth-friendly recycled materials. Durable and dependable, they will ensure that the workplace remains clean no matter the conditions outside!

Give Alsco a call today. We’ll help you pick out all that your office needs to stay clean and certifiably green.

Photo: K2 Space

Here’s Why You Should Start Using Natural Light in Your Workplace

May it be a quiet beach or a mountainous wilderness, we can’t deny how much we love spending time outdoors, wandering around nature, and getting as much sun as we can.

But snapping back to reality, we realize that we don’t really have the luxury of time to spend outdoors because we have actual jobs that need to be done inside our offices all day.

How do we solve this problem? Revamp the workplace to make it cleaner and brighter with natural light.

Research suggests that there are far more benefits to having natural light in the workplace than sticking to artificial lights.

You Consume Less Energy

Image from: Pixabay by Couleur

The less artificial light you use in the workplace, the less energy you consume, which also means fewer bills to pay.

While our reliance on artificial lights may not end completely anytime soon, going for natural lighting in the workplace is still a worthy investment that can benefit everybody. Imagine natural light distributed across the office. Imagine a workplace with no dark corners.

Some offices in the US have actually gone natural with their lighting. A Locklear plant in Seattle, WA, was redesigned to let the sun’s natural light into the office, making it their major day-time lighting source.

Aside from a reduced cost in annual electricity (US$500,000), the company also enjoyed taking pride in the fact that they have reduced their office’s carbon footprint and contributed to saving the environment just by switching to natural light.

You Have Healthier Workers

Image from: Flickr Image by Michael Saechang

Research done in 1994 states that the most common health issues in the workplace are headaches and other illnesses associated with eyestrain caused by the light present in a workplace.

Any poorly lit place can damage the eyes but eyestrains can be prevented if a person has a window with a view to look at to give his eyes some rest. Landscape short-range and long-range views benefit the eyes by helping them refocus.

Aside from fewer headaches, natural light also helps increase attentiveness, reduce accidents, and even improve sleep quality when workers get home.

Positive and Productive People

Image from: Pixabay by Jjones2

As impossible as it may seem, natural light can have a huge positive effect on people.

For employees, it doesn’t only help provide motivation, it also promotes a sense of teamwork and organisational attachment.

No wonder why providing a comfortable and conducive working environment is recognised for being advantageous to everyone.

A California, USA-based company reported a 5% increase in productivity just after 18 months of moving in their constructed daylit distribution facility. The new VeriFone building turned out to be even more cost-effective than expected.

How Do You Get All That Daylight?

Image from: Unsplash by Benjamin Child

The question now is, how are you going to maximise all that daylight in your office?

Well, unless you can afford a complete remodelling of your building, there are actually small fixes you can do to let as much daylight into your workplace as possible.

Go for full pane windows as they can be installed to let all the sunlight to flow in.

Install light tubes on the roof. These light tubes can actually capture, funnel down, and distribute light inside a room.

A heliostat would also be a good idea. It can deflect the sunlight it catches throughout the day into any building through windows, skylights, or the light tubes installed in the roof. Once the natural light is in, you can distribute it more effectively with the use of glass walls and dividers.

Wouldn’t you enjoy working more in a  fun, upbeat, and positive working environment that would motivate you to be more productive?

No wonder why modern offices these days go for an open plan and opt for spacial dividers and glass walls. More companies are also getting into adding plant-life in the workplace as well as large windows that would help bring the outdoors in.

Now that’s a clever way to still get a good view of the outdoors while working on our desks.

Don’t just stop at bright, go for clean too!

Alsco’s Floorcare Services

A bright office with all-natural lighting is definitely good for everyone. But wouldn’t it be better for everyone if it was kept clean at all times, too? Now that’s what you’re going to need these Alsco Mats for.

These revolutionary Evolution Mats will help prevent dirt from entering the office premises. They are made from eco-friendly recycled materials and they come in a variety of Eco-Mats to choose from.

If you’re curious about these revolutionary mats, Alsco’s friendly representatives will be more than happy to share you their mat service’s benefits as well as the cost.

Sources:

1. ErgoDynamix – Workplace Lighting’, ErgoDynamix online – www.ergodmx.com/articles/article_8.html
2. ‘A Literture Review of the Effects of Nautral Light on Building Occupants”, L Edwards and P Torcellini, NREL, 2002 – www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/30769.pdf

• 2a. ‘Daylighting Offers great Opportunities’, G Franta and K Anstead, Window & Door Specifier-Design Lab, 1994
• 2b. ‘Energy Effectiveness and the Ecology of Work: Links to Productivity and Well-Being’, Heerwagen JH, et al. Building Research and Information, 1998
• 2c. ‘At What Cost Health? Low Cost, As It Turns Out’, WR Pape, Inc Online, 1998

Photo: Rodrigo Galindez

Your Workplace Hygiene Level Greatly Depends On Your Restroom Facilities

Cleanliness in the workplace is as important as the devices used to make life in the workplace easier and faster.

It’s a lot better to work in a clean environment because it makes you happier and less prone to sickness, don’t you agree?

We at Alsco have recognized that more and more companies have made major changes to their hygiene levels, most especially their washrooms.

However, toilet paper and bleach are not always enough to accomplish this.

Providing the most practical facility and the perfect design for it, specifically the workplace washroom, is the right thing to do. We have a simple guide that you can use to maximize the hygiene levels at your workplace.

Items You’ll Need in Your Workplace Washroom

• Hand Sanitizers
  Hand sanitizers are important to help keep your hands clean at all times. However, they only kill germs that are on the surface of your skin. Some bacteria lie underneath the surface of your skin, making frequent hand washing with clean soap more suitable.

• Hand Dryers
  There are three types of hand dryers that you can use: disposable paper towels, electric hand dryers, and cloth roller towels. However, not all of them keep your hands clean after drying them.

You’ll definitely dry your hands faster with an electric hand dryer, but the level of bacteria on your fingertips just increased by 194% and bacteria level on your palm increased by 254%.

Photo courtesy: Flickr Image by Sarah Poole

Modern jet air dryers can also spread bacteria up to 2 meters away. Not only did you get bacteria all over your clothes and hands, but also on the people behind you.

Using disposable paper towels is a smart move because it reduces bacteria by 76% on finger pads and 77% on palms. Just make sure you throw them in a bin with a cover! We wouldn’t want those germs flying back in the air again, now, would we?

The cloth roller towel is also another good way to clean and dry your hands. Cloth towel dispensers are closed, therefore greatly reducing the spread of bacteria. Research in 2007 found that when cotton roller towels are being used, bacterial level on hands drops by 85%.

• Hand Soap Dispensers
  Soap keeps our hands clean, but you may have to think twice about using the old-style bar of soap. These things accumulate dirt and bacteria on the surface. So, you can end up transferring bacteria from the soap to your hands. A more effective way to keep bacteria away from the soap you’re using is to use a hand soap dispenser. You can find them in liquid or foam form, this way you lessen the chances of bacteria spreading on the soap.

Facility Layout and Design

Talking about the design of the workplace washroom includes choosing the type of hand soap dispensers to be used, the actual layout of the washroom, the sinks that you’ll be using, type of toilets to be installed, etc. This means we’re talking about a wide variety of decisions to be made.

Photo courtesy: Flickr Image by U.S. Department of Agriculture

An example would be – having a hands-free soap dispenser dramatically reduces the risk of germs spreading from the dispenser button. Especially, when compared to using a regular soap dispenser with a button to release the soap.

Another example is, installing an automatic flush on a toilet. This means you won’t have to worry about bacteria getting on your fingertips after flushing.

Sanitation in the washroom is definitely the starting point of a clean working environment. Using swing doors in the washrooms is better in this regard. You would use dividers instead of doors to block the view of the restroom.

We must not forget that cubicle doors must be locked when being used, so using slide latches or push-button locks on cubicle doors is more hygienic instead of twist latches because you don’t have to grip the door lock.

If you manage a school, this is your lucky day because you can avoid the headache by finding all these details and much more in our ultimate School Washroom Guide.

The Upkeep of Facilities

Choosing the right facilities is important, but keeping the loo at the workplace clean is crucial too. After all, maintaining everything in perfect condition will make it more effective. Having a facilities manager is the best way to keep everything in an orderly manner.

Well Kept Workplace Washroom

For all your stock and maintenance management needs, look no further than Alsco. We provide high-quality maintenance services.

You can choose from any of our rental programs such as washroom equipment, supplies, and maintenance services. Your staff can now focus on their jobs instead of worrying about washroom maintenance and hygiene.

For more details, call Alsco now! Our friendly representatives will always be happy to assist you!

Photo Courtesy from: Flickr Image by Aqua Mechanical

Paper vs Cloth: Which Towel Is Best For Your Kitchen?

Working in the kitchen will always involve getting messy. Spills, splatters, and vegetable or fruit peelings are just some of the mess you will have to deal with.

When you’re busy cooking, you know that there will always be mess that needs to be cleaned up and you could definitely use an efficient cleaning solution.

What kind of towel do you use to clean up? Do you usually hoard paper towels or go for cloth towels instead?

The Thing With Paper Towels

Oops! Spilled something? Grab a paper towel, wipe that mess, toss it in the trash bin and you’re done.

No wonder paper towels are the most popular choice people go for when it comes to dealing with kitchen mess. But while it’s the most convenient solution, it’s not always the most cost-effective.

Paper towels are only good for fixing small messes but when there’s way too many spills to wipe and clean up, it might not be a very wise choice after all.

Aside from being an expensive option, recycled paper towels still create a lot of unnecessary waste so they don’t do too much either in reducing unnecessary waste.

Photo courtesy: Flickr Image by Your Best Digs

Why Cloth Towels?

Consider yourself lucky though because there is actually a better option for cleaning up those messy spills on your kitchen counter – cloth towels. How are they better than paper towels? Read on:

• They are efficient – The fact that they are made with fabric means these towels are much more absorbent and they have a thicker pile that lets you collect dirt easier.

• They cost less – Because they are reusable, you wouldn’t ‘run out’ of these towels. You can simply wash them after use and they’re ready to use again. You can even keep up a supply of these clean cloths through a rental system and it’d still be much cheaper compared to buying rolls after rolls of paper towels forever.

• They’re environmentally friendly – Having a reusable cloth towel in your kitchen means less unnecessary waste from your household; which also means less waste for the environment. You get to tap yourself in the back for it.

It’s pretty obvious now that reusable wipes are the wiser choice between the two. They are not only more efficient and cost-effective, they are also environmentally friendly.

Now, it’s really all in the matter of how you get them cleaned. How can you make sure that you are conforming to the health and safety regulations for commercial kitchens? A rental program can take over from here.

Alsco food and glass wipes (cloth towels) are collected, laundered to Australian Quality Standards and delivered back ready for use and reuse.

We also provide colour-coded food wipes to prevent cross-contamination and glass wipes for detailing and cleaning. Alsco conforms to the health and safety regulations so you can rest assured that your wipes are always clean.

So if you’re running a commercial kitchen, you can stop worrying about the mess now. Give these Alsco food and glass wipes a try, enquire now!

Photo courtesy: Flickr Image by Josh Mormann