Office Germs: Safe for Work

The Editors of Office Product Reviews at Best Choice Reviews decided to research the topic of:

SAFE FOR WORK?

Keeping clean and healthy in the office may be harder than you think.

• 1 in 3 office workers have witnessed co-workers leaving restrooms without washing their hands.
• 53% of Americans don't wash their hands after exchanging money.
• The average person touches 300 surfaces every 30 minutes, exposing themselves to 840,000 germs.

Diligent washing, wiping and sanitizing can help office professionals reduce their rates of cold and flu by as much as 80%.

• 72% of Americans typically go to work when they are sick.
• 55% of workers say they feel guilty when they call in sick.
• 78% of workers say they wash their hands often.
• 15% of workers avoid shaking hands with people to avoid germs.
• 3% skip meetings where sick people are in attendance.

Just how dirty is my office?

Researchers swabbed about 5,000 surfaces in office buildings, including law firms, insurance companies, healthcare offices, call centers and factories. The swabs were analyzed with a device that measures adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a molecule found in all animal, vegetable, bacteria, yeast and mold cells.

High ATP levels are present in food or other organic residues left on surfaces. The more ATP found on a surface, the more likely it's flourishing with bacteria and viruses. An ATP reading of over 100 suggests a surface could use a scrub-down. Readings of 300 or higher are considered officially dirty and at high risk for spreading illness.

ATP counts of 300 or higher

• 75% of break room sink faucet handles
• 48% of microwave door handles
• 27% of keyboards
• 26% of refrigerator door handles
• 23% of water fountain buttons
• 21% of vending machine buttons
• ATP counts of 100 or higher
• 91% of break room sink faucet handles
• 80% of microwave door handles
• 69% of keyboards
• 69% of refrigerator door handles
• 53% of water fountain buttons
• 51% of all computer mice
• 51% of all desk phones
• 48% of all coffee pots and dispensers
• 43% of vending machine buttons

Office hygiene tips

• Keep hand sanitizer at your desk and use it immediately after every meeting or conference.
• Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer when you get to work, especially after riding mass transit, such as trains or buses.
• Use disinfectant wipes to clean your desk at least once a day.
• Keep hand sanitizer in the break room to reinforce hand hygiene.

Choose a Debt Management Plan

Anyone can feel miserable in life when they have to face debt related issues. The only way to better your life in such situations is by repaying your debts. Debt repayment options can be easily found these days and a person can choose the right debt repayment option in order to eliminate his debts. Choosing the right debt repayment option also helps to ensure that you do not have to declare bankruptcy in order to get rid of your debts.

Keep in mind that there is plenty of debt management plans that can help you get rid of your debts in an easily manageable manner. However, you must choose the right debt management plan in order to do so because not all debt management plans are right for you. Mostly people choose a debt management plan that worked for someone they knew. Keep in mind that the debt issues you are facing and the debt issues someone else is facing can be entirely different. Therefore, a person must never choose a debt management plan after seeing it working for someone else. It is best that you chose a reliable debt management company so that they can suggest you a good debt management plan to help you get rid of your debts.

If you want to choose a debt management plan on your own, then first, you must consider your own financial situation. For this, you will need to sort out all of your financial information. Make a detailed list of all of your debts, interest rate on your debts, your creditors, and any other information related to your debts because this information will be needed in order to determine your current financial situation. Considering your financial situation is essential because without this, no company or not even yourself can choose the right debt management plan for yourself. Therefore, make sure that you are not omitting any details that can determine your current financial situation.

When you have carefully sorted out your financial situation, you need to find a reliable source to get debt advice. Paid companies are one reliable option, but not everyone can afford to pay a company to get advice or to get a debt management plan. Therefore, the only option most people are left with are the charitable organizations that work free of cost. Charitable organizations are easy to find these days because most of these organizations have good reputation and may be you know some of them.

However, if you do not know any reliable organizations that provide free of cost debt advice and debt management plans then you should ask someone who might know.

Keep in mind that you must share your updated information with the company you are choosing to get debt help from, whether it is in the form of debt advice or a debt management plan. If you do not share your correct information with the company, then there is no assurance that the company will be able to provide you with a debt management plan that can work for you.

Author bio:
Muhammad Azam is an avid blogger and financial advisor. He has experience in debt relief industry. If you are looking for reliable information about iva, debt management plans and other debt relief options then read his blogs.

When Not To Choose a Debt Management Company

People often say that hiring a debt management company is the best way to get out of your debt problems. However, that is not entirely true. The reason why people say this is that they hired the services of a debt management company to deal with their own financial problems. Now, financial problems may sound the same, but in fact, there are a lot of differences because of which, if a debt solution worked for one person, does not necessarily means that it will work for the second person as well. In the same manner, when you are looking for a debt management company, because you heard that, a debt management plan could help you get out of debts, then you should stop and do your research before you reach a logical decision.

Pros and Cons of Hiring A Debt Management Company

Pros

• The debtor does not have to deal with his creditors anymore. All of the dealings with the creditors will be taken care of by the debt management company.
• The debtor needs to make only one single payment against all of their debts. this is one of the biggest benefits because of which people usually opt for a debt management plan in the first place.
• The debtor gives the debt management company the minimum limit to which he can afford in the form of monthly payments. Therefore, the repayment becomes easily affordable for the debtor.

Cons

• Some debt management companies charge you in a number of ways. For instance, setting up see, monthly fee, and administration charges are just some of the heads under which the debt management company might/will charge you.
• Your debt may increase due to extra charges and fees. If your debt management company did not ask your creditors to freeze your interest, then you might get to face more debt issues.
• If you ask for rescheduling of debts, it will most definitely affect your credit rating.
• Moreover, not all debt management plans bind your creditors, so they can still take legal action against you at any point in the duration of debt management plan.

When not to choose a debt management company
Hiring a debt management company is not essential when you can deal with your debt related issues on your own, or via any other resource. There are many other reasons when you should not opt for a debt management company. Following are two of the main reasons when you should not hire a debt management company.

• You should seek further advice if the creditors refused to freeze the interest rate on your debts. Interest rate increases your debt amount and in such situations, a debt management plan cannot help you.
• You should not choose a debt management company if the debt repayment period offered to you is unrealistic due to level of debts.

People now days can easily find well reputed debt management companies, but finding a reputable company does not assures you a way out of your debts. Therefore, if you think that a debt management company can really help you, then you should opt for charitable company that does not charges you any fee and only offers you reliable advice about what you should do.

Author Bio:
Muhammad Azam is an expert financial writer and avid financial blogger having experience in the field of debt relief. He has written posts on debt management plan, IVA, Debt relief orders and on other financial topics as well.