Nobody likes knowing they have pests in their business. You may encounter them when you’re walking through the property or hear them scuttling around while you’re sitting at your desk, and you won’t be too happy about that.
You can contact a commercial pest control company to deal with whatever insects, rodents, or other pests have decided to share your workspace. Let’s talk about some of the main reasons you want to eliminate them as soon as possible.
They Send Your Clients or Customers the Wrong Message
When you have customers or clients visit one of your brick-and-mortar store locations, you want to show them that you are a professional business entity, no matter what products you sell or services you offer. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lawyer’s office or own a supermarket. Pests do not belong in any business setting.
If you have a business that makes or sells food, people won’t want to come in and see mouse or rat droppings. They won’t want to see tooth and claw marks on the products they’re going to take home and ingest.
Even if you don’t make or deal with any food products, though, potential customers who come visit you won’t think you’re in control of your business if they see ants, roaches, rats, mice, etc. If they see pests crawling or flying around, they will assume you’re not the best entity to provide a product or service, and they will probably go with one of your competitors instead.
Your Employees Won’t Like Working for You
If you’re the company’s owner or its operator, you must keep your workers happy. If you can’t do that, they will likely quit their jobs and try to find work elsewhere.
That means you have to offer them perks like healthcare, 401K plans, paid vacation days, etc. You also need to keep the premises clean when they come in to work.
Nobody likes working in a location where there are pests. It’s gross when you’re sitting at your desk or you walk into a bathroom, and you see roaches crawling around or rats trying to hide. When that happens, it’s easy for the employee to imagine untold numbers of these creatures nesting in the walls. That might be an exaggeration, but it may be true as well.
Getting rid of pests at your worksites expediently sends the message to your workers that you value them and want them to have a clean workspace. They will respect you for that and appreciate it.
The Pests Can Contaminate Your Products
If you have something like ants, mice, rats, or roaches in your buildings, and you make a food product or something similar, you can’t let them remain there. They might get into the food when you’re manufacturing it, or they may make their way into the wrapped, finished products.
Either way, no one will want to eat food products that show evidence of pest contamination. Nobody likes thinking about pests that have been gnawing on the food before the consumer gets a chance to eat it.
Also, if you try to conceal that your food has been contaminated, the authorities might find out about that. One of your workers may contact the health department. When they come, if they see evidence of insect or rodent infestation, they can shut you down, and they would be right to do so.
You can eventually get them to allow you to reopen if you get rid of the pests and make sure everything is sanitary again, but that will take time. During the time you’re closed, you can’t make any money, and your business might be in danger of going under.
You probably care about your company very much, and you don’t want to let that happen. You take pride in your business, but if it’s not profitable for you, that will threaten you and your family financially as well.
Some Pests Can Harm Your Workers or Customers
Certain pests, like ants, are annoying but not dangerous. Your workers and any would-be customers who spot them won’t like the fact that they’re there, but the ants won’t endanger them.
If you have something like rats, though, they can harm a worker or customer if they get a chance. They are usually not overly aggressive, preferring to run from humans rather than attack them. However, you might have one that feels cornered, and if so, it can attack a human and deliver a nasty bite.
Some rodents carry rabies and other diseases. It would be a nightmare for your business if you had an employee or a customer get bitten by a rat. They could sue your company, and they might win their lawsuit. If their lawyer can prove in court that you knew about the infestation but did not do anything about it, you will probably have to pay the injured party a great deal of money.
When You See One Pest, There Are Probably Many More
Seeing one pest and ignoring it might seem tempting. If you see a single mouse, for instance, you might feel like that’s the only one, and it’s not going to do much harm. The worst it may do is nibble on a sandwich that someone leaves out in the break room. Maybe you don’t want to spend the money to hire an exterminator.
One pest can be an indicator there are many more, though, even if you do not necessarily see them all at one time. If you see one mouse, you may have dozens more in the walls. Perhaps they’re nesting in there. They might be chewing on the wires that make up your building’s electrical system.
If that happens, the repairs will be even more costly, which is why you need to contact a reliable commercial exterminator right away. Doing so makes sure you don’t have to deal with any of the issues we’ve mentioned.