7 Effective Office Cleaning Tips & Tricks

A clean office is a productive office, but in an office shared by many workers, it can be easy for the environment to become dirty and disorganized. With each person focused on their work, they might feel they don’t have time to clean their spilled coffee or dust their desk area. Unfortunately, a little neglected office cleaning can quickly build up to decreased productivity, disinterested workers and turned-off clients. Office cleaning can easily be overlooked, but it is a truly important part of a successful business. Sometimes it is difficult to even know where to start in keeping an office clean, so we have put together seven tips to keep your office looking and feeling like a place of business that deserves respect and a prosperous future. There are so many office cleaning checklists and tips but here are some very effective tricks in cleaning your office.

Create a Clean Office Culture

This tip is probably the most important, that is why it comes first. If you can help all employees understand the importance of keeping a clean workspace and taking extra steps to be clean in common areas, it will make all office cleans so much easier. Make sure that all new employees understand that being tidy is a big part of their job. It is important not to be harsh or disciplinary about cleaning, but to make it a fun, team task that everyone shares and takes pride in. Give awards for the cleanest workstation, compliment coworkers if you see them cleaning a common area and give lots of positive reinforcement about clean habits. If everyone enjoys having a clean office, it will be no problem to keep everything looking good and performing well.

Make Cleaning Supplies Readily Available

It is best if every worker can have their own cleaning supplies, like screen cleaners and disinfectant wipes at their desk. This way they don’t feel like they have to provide their own supplies and start to begrudge the boss for making them clean their desk and buy the supplies to do so. Having the cleaning supplies always available may seem like a big expense, but the amount of extra cleaning it will lead to will be more than enough to make it worth it. In common areas it should be easy to find brooms, dustpans, dish soap, paper towels, disinfectant wipes and glass cleaner. It is best if all of these supplies are in one, well known location. If someone makes a mess and it is difficult to find the right supplies to clean it up, it is more likely they will leave it for someone else with the excuse that they have more important things to do. If you give your employees the supplies, they will use them and the office will be a whole lot cleaner.

Remove Trash Everyday

Nothing is worse than a stinky trash bin. The only way to prevent this is to take out the rubbish at the end of each work day, that way it won’t sit overnight and become a huge problem. Each employee should have a waste basket at their desk, and should be responsible for deciding when it needs to go to the main office trash. A good rule is that whenever something wet or containing food scraps goes in, the waste basket should be emptied. Let your employees decide who will take the trash out everyday. Either rotate everyday, every week, or however your team thinks will make the most sense. But make sure they know it is vital the trash goes out everyday. Nothing will make a client doubt your company more than the smell of trash!

Clean the Floors

Sweeping or vacuuming should occur two or three times per week. With multiple people coming in and going out and coming back in, they are always bringing in dirt from the outside. It can be hard to notice a dirty office floor because everyone will be wearing shoes, but the dirt does enter the field of vision even if subconsciously, which can be distracting. Also the dirt can be kicked up into the air and then fall onto other surfaces or trigger allergic reactions. It is best to have set days when the floor needs to be cleaned, for example, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mopping can be completed only once a week if no catastrophes happen. Again, it is important that all employees share the responsibility to clean common areas and are left to their own judgement of when to clean their personal space. The floors are one of the most difficult and important elements to clean in an office, but with teamwork and a set routine, they will stay clean and functional.

Clean the Lights

Overhead lighting is a real challenge to keep clean. This task does not need to happen as often as the rest on the list, but it is also important and often overlooked. Dust easily builds up inside of light fixtures, causing a dingy look which can lead to less productivity. This step will probably require a ladder to safely reach the lights. While cleaning the lights, you can also make sure that all the bulbs are still working and replace any that have burnt out. The lighting in an office is critical, as it aids in reading and staying alert while on the job. By keeping the lights clean, you are protecting your employees eyes and letting clients know that you will have a bright future working together.

Set Guidelines For Cleaning Individual Spaces

It is important that employees know how their workspaces should look so that they have a goal to work towards. Screens should be kept clean, keyboards should be regularly dusted, papers should be organized, drawers should be tidy and chairs need to be cleaned weekly. A great way to make sure that individual spaces stay clean is to have small meetings in each person’s space, that way they need to be clean and organized to make a good impression on the rest of their coworkers. If each employee is keeping their own space clean, the office as a whole will function much better.

Hire a Competent Cleaning Service

Find a company that specializes in cleaning for offices and have them come regularly. As you can see from reading these tips, keeping a clean office is a huge task. When you add up all the benefits of hiring an office cleaner, you will see how affordable office cleaning services are. Having your staff clean the office can only go so far, bringing in a dedicated office cleaning lady, gentlemen or team is the only way to make sure your office is as clean and functional as possible.