A clean office is a healthy office.

 

People working from home offices may be exposed to more germs than their office-bound counterparts, according to health experts.

 

Research shows office desks harbour germs and the typical office desk is home to more than 10 million bacteria, which is 400 times more than a toilet seat.

 

Experts say things might not look that different in the work-from-home space, but according to an ABC report, the biggest culprit is the keyboard, which doesn’t get the same cleaning attention than it does in a fully serviced office.

 

"You haven't got eyes looking at you — there isn't that social pressure like a messy desk at work, or 15 coffee cups having people think you are disorganised or a bit gross," Libby Sander, an assistant professor of organisational behaviour at Bond University, told the national broadcaster.

 

Dr Sander says cleaner office buildings have a 12.5 per cent decrease in sickness absences, and increased productivity.

 

A lot of biological matter — skin cells, bacteria, hairs — are shed by people every day, explained Dr Emma Harding, a virology researcher at UNSW,

 

"Keyboards and desks are ideal places for this matter to accumulate and, if not cleaned, [they] become breeding grounds for bacteria," she said.