The Healthy Workplace Project for Kimberly-Clark Professional

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Message The Healthy Workplace Project Kimberly-Clark and its brands—such as Kleenex and Scott—are a part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the planet’s population trusts the company’s products to enhance their health, hygiene, and wellbeing. After sales of hand sanitizers surged in 2009 on public concerns about the H1N1 flu virus, Kimberly-Clark sought to build on the increased sales volume and to ensure that its brands stood out from the competition. One of the company’s four business segments, Kimberly-Clark Professional, asked IDEO to collaborate on products, services, and communication tools that would help employees and facilities managers to prevent illness by establishing better hand- and surface-hygiene systems. Studies showed that each year companies lose $1,685 per employee due to absenteeism and presenteeism (employees coming to work while sick). Yet typical office health-improvement efforts focused on only one activity, such as hand washing. So Kimberly-Clark and IDEO decided to fight “sickness” at several links in the chain of transmission, with the goal of stopping infection in the places it most commonly starts. The Healthy Workplace Project* is a comprehensive system of products and services that delivers improved employee health and engagement by emphasizing the importance of “washing, wiping, and sanitizing” on the job. It includes: site-assessment tools (such as germ swaps and maps of problem areas) and in-office hygiene-awareness tools; online resources for managers and employees; and a Desk Caddy of germ-fighting products. “Illness-causing germs are everywhere and have the potential to travel with you into your office space,” Brad Reynolds, marketing leader of Kimberly-Clark’s Healthy Workplace Project, told Computerworld in a story about swab tests of public surfaces in six major US cities. “That’s why we developed the Healthy Workplace Project—a unique approach to hand and surface hygiene that helps employees understand and reduce the spread of cold, flu, and stomach illness germs throughout their workplaces.” In fact, Kimberly-Clark studies show that the average “office hotspot” (think computer mouse, keyboard, phone, community microwave) has three times more germs than a toilet seat. To help remedy this, the Desk Caddy provides employees with the tools needed to combat germs in three critical places: the infectious source (anti-viral facial tissue for sneezing/nose blowing), infected surfaces (disinfecting wipes), and the hands of healthy employees (instant hand sanitizer). The caddy, which comes in basic white or polished wire, is designed to be set on a desktop or counter, or hung on a conference room table or in a break area. Tools such as the Desk Caddy, in combination with proprietary education, engagement, and evaluation techniques, enable each employee to play an active role in improving workplace health. According to Kimberly-Clark, a recent pilot of The Healthy Workplace Project* showed a 46 percent reduction in absenteeism across 577 employees in an office building using the system (as compared to a control office building located adjacent to the pilot building). http://www.ideo.com/work/the-healthy-workplace-project

Kimberly-Clark and its brands—such as Kleenex and Scott—are a part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the planet’s population trusts the company’s products to enhance their health, hygiene, and wellbeing. After sales of hand sanitizers surged in 2009 on public concerns about the H1N1 flu virus, Kimberly-Clark sought to build on the increased sales volume and to ensure that its brands stood out from the competition. One of the company’s four business segments, Kimberly-Clark Professional, asked IDEO to collaborate on products, services, and communication tools that would help employees and facilities managers to prevent illness by establishing better hand- and surface-hygiene systems.

Studies showed that each year companies lose $1,685 per employee due to absenteeism and presenteeism (employees coming to work while sick). Yet typical office health-improvement efforts focused on only one activity, such as hand washing. So Kimberly-Clark and IDEO decided to fight “sickness” at several links in the chain of transmission, with the goal of stopping infection in the places it most commonly starts.

The Healthy Workplace Project* is a comprehensive system of products and services that delivers improved employee health and engagement by emphasizing the importance of “washing, wiping, and sanitizing” on the job. It includes: site-assessment tools (such as germ swaps and maps of problem areas) and in-office hygiene-awareness tools; online resources for managers and employees; and a Desk Caddy of germ-fighting products.

“Illness-causing germs are everywhere and have the potential to travel with you into your office space,” Brad Reynolds, marketing leader of Kimberly-Clark’s Healthy Workplace Project, told Computerworld in a story about swab tests of public surfaces in six major US cities. “That’s why we developed the Healthy Workplace Project—a unique approach to hand and surface hygiene that helps employees understand and reduce the spread of cold, flu, and stomach illness germs throughout their workplaces.”

In fact, Kimberly-Clark studies show that the average “office hotspot” (think computer mouse, keyboard, phone, community microwave) has three times more germs than a toilet seat.

To help remedy this, the Desk Caddy provides employees with the tools needed to combat germs in three critical places: the infectious source (anti-viral facial tissue for sneezing/nose blowing), infected surfaces (disinfecting wipes), and the hands of healthy employees (instant hand sanitizer). The caddy, which comes in basic white or polished wire, is designed to be set on a desktop or counter, or hung on a conference room table or in a break area. Tools such as the Desk Caddy, in combination with proprietary education, engagement, and evaluation techniques, enable each employee to play an active role in improving workplace health.

According to Kimberly-Clark, a recent pilot of The Healthy Workplace Project* showed a 46 percent reduction in absenteeism across 577 employees in an office building using the system (as compared to a control office building located adjacent to the pilot building).