In a survey from earlier this year, 9 in 10 Americans believe employers who pay consistent attention to their workplace restroom cleanliness care more about their employees than those who do not. More customers are putting an emphasis on clean restrooms in their decision to visit an organization. From the 11th annual Handwashing Survey, the number of Americans who will “definitely” or “probably” spend more money in response to clean restrooms has climbed to 62% this year from 45% two years ago. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the mindset of the public in terms of their safety. What used to be routines in a daily life have changed due to safety precautions. As an example, 54% of Americans are concerned about touching coins or bills due to Covid-19, and 60% plan to use touchless payments in the future.
Ideas for a safer restroom
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the American Restroom Association (ARA) has issued recommendations for reopening public restrooms. For a list of these recommendations, click on the following link to see these recommendations in a PDF.
PDF of American Restroom Association Recommendations
Some low-cost ways from the ARA to keep people safe include:
- Hand-washing or sanitizing upon entering the restroom to minimize germ transmission
- Wearing of face masks to limit exposure to aerosolized infectious agents and to minimize face-touching
- Implementing education programs and signage supporting the two items above
Concern for safety
As the concern for personal safety rises for both employees and customers, it is also worth noting that individuals are in a heightened stance of protection, both for themselves and for their families. Having negative experiences in a restroom will have more of an impact both on the individual and their perception of your organization. The restroom is an area that all organizations need to pay more attention to as a touchpoint that people feel is important for their individual safety. As mentioned above, simple steps can be taken as well as more advanced steps to keep employees and customers safe.
Measuring Experiences
With today’s technology, organizations have the ability to measure and improve along all important touchpoints of an experience. Whether it is for customers, patients, or employees, real-time feedback is available so quick changes can be made at hidden pain points. With each business under the microscope of a 24/7 social media world, bad experiences can be quickly relayed to other customers and potential customers of a bad experience. By being proactive with your customer and employee experiences, your organization can be in front of customer expectations and perceptions instead of constantly chasing service recovery.
SmileyAnswers offers Touchless Solutions
SmileyAnswers is the leading reseller of the HappyOrNot® Reporting System within the United States, Canada, and the U.K. HappyOrNot® has over 1.5 billion feedbacks to date and is a leader in capturing the real-time insight of customers, patients, and employees. With the recent addition of the Smiley Link and Smiley Digital, SmileyAnswers offers a #GoTouchless solution in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to keep customers and employees safe while giving your business the real-time data it needs.
During this crisis, each individual has their own perception of their safety. This reason alone increases the need for organizations to capture as much feedback to understand the wide range of feelings and emotions that people have. With real-time insight provided by SmileyAnswers, you can be on top of negative experiences and changing trends. Although many restrooms are checked, they are not checked enough and one person’s perception (employee cleaning the restroom) does not mean it is clean for others.
Wrapping it up
Perceptions are quickly changing on what individuals consider safe and clean. Because of this rapid change and how it is so important for both your employees and customers, being on top of how people feel about their safety is vital. Going forward, this will be a moving target that can be difficult for your organization to be on top of. With real-time insight, your business can manage these expectations to provide the safe and health experience people come to expect. Do not let negative restroom experiences impact your business. Use simple, real-time feedback that is available today to manage this important touchpoint.
