Every fall, the same thing happens: one person comes in sick, and two weeks later half the office has it. A small amount of preparation makes a real difference — without needing a hazmat-level overhaul.

1. Hand Sanitizer at the Front Door

Most colds enter offices on hands. A wall-mounted sanitizer at every entrance — actually stocked — does more than any signage. People use it when it's right there. Make it impossible to walk past.

2. Disinfecting Wipes at Every High-Touch Surface

Conference-room tables, copier control panels, the breakroom microwave, shared keyboards. A canister of wipes within arm's reach, refilled weekly, turns "someone should wipe this down" into "I'll do it now."

3. Tissue Boxes Where They're Needed

Every desk, every conference room, every common area. Tissues out, not buried in a drawer. A sneezing employee with a box on hand is a much smaller spread risk than one searching for a paper towel.

4. A Visible Sick-Day Policy

Sanitation does no good if people come in coughing because they think they have to. Remind the team — out loud, in writing — that staying home with symptoms is encouraged. The cost of one sick day is a tenth the cost of five people sick a week later.

5. Better Ventilation If You Can

Cracking a window for 10 minutes per day, or running portable HEPA filters in the busiest rooms, reduces airborne transmission. It's not dramatic, but it's a real effect. Fall is the time to switch the filters on the HVAC system, too.

6. A Stocked Sick Kit

A small kit at reception — tissues, masks, individually wrapped lozenges, sanitizer wipes — for the colleague who started feeling rough at lunch. Small gesture, big appreciation.

If your facility cleaning supplies could use a fresh look — what you're stocking, what it's costing, what's working — that's a conversation we're happy to have.