3 Ways to Mitigate Indoor Allergies in the Office

As your employees recover from flu season in the winter, they start to suffer from allergies in the spring. Normally healthy employees might suddenly have watery eyes, a stuffy nose, and trouble breathing because of all the pollen in the air. Indoor allergy sufferers can also spend their days trying to clear their throats and limit the dust they encounter. While you can’t turn your office into an allergy-proof bubble, you can limit the number of particles floating around. Here are three ways to reduce allergens in your office with the help of your employees.

Install Mats and Hand Sanitizer Stations

It’s astounding how quickly germs, dust, and pollen travel from the outside into the office. Even if one of your employees runs to their car because they forgot something, they can track in a host of pollen spores and dirt when they return. Evaluate the entrance of your office and see if it’s possible to reduce the grime that’s brought inside. For example, you can install floor mats that catch dirt from shoes and install hand sanitizer stations on the walls. These two small acts can limit the spread of pollen and germs in the office.

It will also help to place hand sanitizer stations in other high-traffic office areas, like the kitchen and conference room. This will work to reduce the spread of germs and keep your employees healthy.   

Start Friday Clean Ups

While many office spaces have cleaning crews that vacuum and take care of the trash, they typically don’t touch employee desks and personal areas. It’s possible for these spaces to get cluttered, dirty, and dusty throughout the year.

To prevent this, encourage employees to conduct a “Friday Purge” at the end of the week. They should spend the last 10 minutes before they leave recycling papers they don’t need anymore, throwing away unwanted or rotting food items, and wiping down their desks and areas with disinfecting and cleaning wipes. Not only will this reduce the amount of grime that employees work in, but it will also allow your team members to approach the week fresh on Monday with a clean, organized desk.

Add More Plants to the Office

Image via Flickr by Gardening Solutions

Small potted plants can do wonders for your allergies. Spider plants, succulents, and potted mums produce oxygen while absorbing toxins and contaminants in the air like formaldehyde. By encouraging allergy sufferers to bring these plants into the office, and by placing plants around the area yourself, you’re able to keep the air cleaner and help employees to breathe easier.

Plants also have other benefits in an office space. They have been proven to reduce tension and anxiety, improve productivity, and reduce fatigue. The good news is that you don’t have to make dramatic changes to see these benefits. Just a few small plants can benefit your staff as a whole and help them work harder.
Ideally, your employees will work in pollen and dust-free spaces thanks to their Friday cleanups, while the mats will limit the amount of dirt tracked in from the outdoors. You can’t guarantee a perfect breathing space for your employees with allergies, but you can take steps to make the air cleaner for them.