People are working more than ever. For a lot of people, spending breaks on company grounds is the only choice, which means that they eat, take naps, and even brush their teeth in the office bathroom.
This is more than necessary.
You see, it takes hours for plaque to start forming, which means that if you take a snack at work, you don’t really have the time to wait until you get home to brush your teeth. That is if you want to do it in the most effective way possible.
Still, they do more than brush at work. Some bring their entire kit, including bottles of mouthwash.
As an enterprise, you could make this easier for them by installing some mouthwash dispensers in the office bathroom. Here’s why and how you should do this.
1. Showing your priorities
As a business, you’ll often be accused of only making investments that directly impact your bottom line or profit margin. What better way to prove that this is really not the case than to invest in something like an automatic mouthwash dispenser?
Getting them a new computer, noise-canceling headphones, or an extra monitor can be interpreted as an investment to increase productivity. Getting a mouthwash dispenser can’t.
This is something that’s clearly meant for the staff and investment toward their health and wellbeing. Unless you can make some obscure connection about how taking one day less from work to see a dentist impacts your bottom line, the truth is that this is clearly not an ambiguous choice by management.
By making this hardware acquisition, you’re sending a clear message – you care about the health of your employees.
It’s also important to mention that almost every workplace has seminars about personal health. There are posters, potentially even meetings, or mandatory presentations where you discuss dental health.
The truth is that a lot of your employees see this as a quota that you have to fulfill. They believe that you’ve received something from higher up and that you have to hold this meeting in order to get some sort of license, certificate, or pass.
Well, there’s currently no mandate to have these mouthwash dispensers (and it’s unlikely that there will be one in the future). This means that by having one such appliance in your office bathroom, you’ll show that you really care about this topic.
No one forced you, no one ordered you; you’re merely exposing yourself to an additional expense (regardless of the fact that it’s not a major one) in order to make an impact on the health of your employees.
2. It’s really the most effective way to do so
Using mouthwash is a good thing, and using a dispenser for this task makes the entire process much simpler and more effective.
First of all, it ensures that you get the right dosage every time without having to measure it with the use of cups (which can sometimes be quite unhygienic).
Just open the bottle and put it back, and there are some of your employees who might actually choose to use the bottle cap as a cup replacement. This can be fine at home (and if you’re living alone) but never in a shared space.
The best part is that there are a lot of employees who would use the mouthwash but can’t be bothered to add extra time to their routine. Some just forget about the mouthwash. Well, with a dispenser out there, this will be quite hard to ignore.
It’s also important to keep in mind the fact that, as an enterprise, you’ll order supplies in bulk. This means that by effectively setting the right amount of mouthwash, you’ll be able to save money on excess (larger dosage than effective).
Not only that but because every dosage will now be the optima amount of mouthwash, you’ll have an easy time with predictions of when the next refill and restock should take place.
3.Increasing employee retention rate
The modern workplace is quickly losing the battle against remote work. If your employees can choose between working from home and working from the office, not many of them will choose to work from the office.
Now, we’re not going to pretend like you can ever make working from the office as convenient as working from home. Even if you provide them with everything they have at home, it’s still a shared space (which is not always a negative thing), it requires a commute (which is always a negative thing), and it’s not really their own. Even if you let them personalize their cubicles, it will never be the same as a home office.
If you adopt a hybrid model (where they have to check in a part of the week), they’ll have mixed feelings about this. Namely, they’ll probably resent the time they have to spend in the office.
What you can do for them is ensure that they can feel at home. Sure, career-driven individuals will power through it all, but not all of your employees are in this category.
While a mouthwash dispenser won’t be able to do this on its own, it will be a nice touch and a gesture that speaks volumes. It will help them take care of their dental health in the office.
They’ll understand why you want them to come to work in person. When comparing you to other agencies, they’ll see that the others are doing the same.
However, they’ll also notice that you’re doing the best you can in order to make them feel like they’re home. This alone will make a world of difference for some of your employees. This way, adding a mouthwash dispenser to your bathroom will impact the employee retention rate (albeit in a minor way).
Wrap up
Ultimately, the simplest answer to why you should add a mouthwash dispenser to your workplace is the fact that this idea has no downsides. The investment is minor, but it can really help your employees’ oral hygiene routine.
On top of this, it’s a nice gesture and something you can do for your employees, which cannot be traced back to you having any agenda behind it. It helps show who you really are as an employer in the best possible light.
