Most Americans seek out – and spend more – at businesses with good bathrooms while canceling businesses with messy ones Businesses that fail to keep their restrooms clean and maintained are unwittingly flushing away customers’ repeat business and sales. According to the Healthy Handwashing Survey™ from Bradley Corporation, almost 60% of Americans make it a point to Read more
Healthy Handwashing Survey
Most Americans seek out – and spend more – at businesses with good bathrooms while canceling businesses with messy ones
Businesses that fail to keep their restrooms clean and maintained are unwittingly flushing away customers’ repeat business and sales. According to the Healthy Handwashing Survey™ from Bradley Corporation, almost 60% of Americans make it a point to stop at a business and will spend more money at the establishment if they know it has clean and maintained restrooms.
In fact, those age 25-44 are even more likely to shell out more cash based on the condition of a business’ restroom.
Conversely, there are negative business repercussions for experiencing a restroom in poor condition. More than half of Americans say an unclean or unpleasant public bathroom shows poor management and causes them to lower their opinion of the overall establishment. The 55+ age group is especially turned off by unkempt restrooms with more than 60% reporting a damaged impression of the overall business.
Almost 20% say a sloppy restroom actually makes them less likely to clean up after themselves.
The business fallout of unpleasant restrooms
Perhaps most damaging for customer-facing businesses is that 52% say a bad restroom experience causes them to vow not to return in the future or think twice about doing so. Another 32% will either tell a friend or post a comment on social media about the negative encounter.
While there are a variety of restroom maintenance issues that may tarnish customers’ restroom experiences, the most common ones include clogged or unflushed toilets; an overall appearance that is old, dirty or unkempt; unpleasant smells; and empty or jammed dispensers for soap, toilet paper and hand towels.
“Restroom maintenance may seem like a business no brainer but limited budgets and facility staffing issues mean that companies are doing more with less staff and resources,” says Jon Dommisse, vice president of marketing and corporate communication, Bradley Corporation. “Nevertheless, customers place a high value on clean restrooms – and reward businesses that offer them. It’s incumbent upon facility managers to prioritize regular restroom cleaning and make sure that everything is in good working order.”
Understanding the aversion to touching restroom surfaces
“In 2023, Americans continue to be in an elevated state of germ consciousness and don’t like touching things in shared public restroom spaces,” adds Dommisse. “As a result, people use all sorts of techniques to avoid coming into contact with surfaces.”
62% use a paper towel to avoid touching toilet flushers and faucet and door handles. 43% operate the flusher with their foot. 31% hover over the toilet seat and 27% open and close doors with their behind to eliminate contact. Women are considerably more likely than men to use these evasive actions.
With so many people deliberately avoiding contact with restroom surfaces, it’s not surprising that 82% believe it is important to have touchless fixtures in a public restroom. Another 60% are more likely to return to a business that offers touch-free technology like faucets, flushers, soap and towel dispensers in its restrooms.
“When asked what restroom improvements they’d like to see, cleanliness topped the list,” Dommisse said. “After that, Americans want touchless fixtures and better stocking of supplies, such as toilet paper, soap and paper towels.”
The annual Healthy Handwashing Survey from Bradley Corp. queried 1,025 American adults Jan. 4-10, 2023, about their handwashing habits, concerns about the coronavirus and flu and their use of public restrooms. Participants were from around the country and were fairly evenly split between men (45%) and women (55%).
For more information, visit www.bradleycorp.com/handwashing.
When it comes to restroom breaks, office workers in the U.S. say that touchless restroom fixtures are the number one feature that would make them feel safer when using their workplace restroom. According to the Healthy Handwashing Survey™ by Bradley Corp., touch-free washroom fixtures received the highest safety ranking, followed by access to well-stocked supplies such as soap Read more
When it comes to restroom breaks, office workers in the U.S. say that touchless restroom fixtures are the number one feature that would make them feel safer when using their workplace restroom. According to the Healthy Handwashing Survey™ by Bradley Corp., touch-free washroom fixtures received the highest safety ranking, followed by access to well-stocked supplies such as soap and paper towels; a clean, disinfectant smell; sufficient space for social distancing; and posted signage with the restroom’s cleaning schedule.
Not only do they associate touchless fixtures with a safer restroom environment, office workers view them as must haves. Nearly four-in-five (79%) of office workers believe no-touch fixtures are an important feature in workplace restrooms. Among the general U.S. population, this sentiment is even higher – 84% say they are important in public restrooms.
“Interestingly, two-thirds of office workers use a paper towel to avoid touching restroom door handles, flushers and faucet handles,” said Jon Dommisse, vice president of marketing and corporate communications, Bradley Corp. “This evasive action further demonstrates why touch-free restroom fixtures resonate so much with restroom users.”
Handwashing is also top-of-mind for office workers, as 70% report washing their hands more now because of new Covid strains, such as the Delta variant. Overall, half of office workers are washing their hands six-plus times a day.
“Just as 9-11 changed air travel and the iPod changed how we listen to music, Covid has changed how we view handwashing and washrooms,” Dommisse said.
Rating the condition of workplace restrooms
The survey also shows 75% of office workers believe the condition of a workplace restroom is one indicator of how a company values its workforce. Fortunately, 68% of office workers rate their restrooms as excellent or very good.
That’s not to say office workers don’t experience problems with workplace restrooms. 81% have encountered at least one issue while using them. The most annoying issues – cited by 62% of workers – are empty or non-working soap, paper towel and/or toilet paper dispensers. Another 62% are concerned with restroom cleanliness.
Highlighting office hygiene improvements
Most employers (62%) have made improvements to make employees feel safer returning to work amidst the pandemic with upgrades such as adding hand sanitizing stations around the office (66%), cleaning offices and restrooms more frequently (65%) and encouraging employees to stay home while they’re sick (51%).
Interestingly, only 42% of companies have communicated these changes to their employees.
Sharing these improvements positively impacts employers since 53% of office workers say their employer’s response to the pandemic makes them feel more valued, 50% say it shows the company cares about its employees, and 35% say it makes them feel more positive about their company.
The Healthy Handwashing Survey from restroom equipment manufacturer, Bradley Corp., queried 1,035 American adults Aug. 3-10, 2021, about their handwashing habits, concerns about the coronavirus and their return to the workplace. A subset of 513 respondents who work in offices were identified and asked a series of applicable questions. Participants were from around the country and were evenly split between men and women. The Healthy Handwashing Survey of the general population has a margin of error of +/- 3% and the office worker subset has a margin of error of +/- 4%, with a 95% confidence level.
For more information, visit bradleycorp.com/handwashing.