Managing an office comes with a seemingly endless list of responsibilities and keeping the environment clean and sanitised is one of the most important.
But, how do you clean and office properly? How often should you have your office cleaned? And is it hard work? Is it something that you can split between your employees? Is it worth having an in-house office cleaner? Or are you far better off paying a professional office cleaning service instead?
Read on and we’ll tell you everything you need to know about keeping your office pristine and your employees happy…
How do you clean an office properly?
Believe it or not, there is a right and a wrong way to clean an office. It’s not enough to dust the desks and sweep the floors; in fact, there are many factors involved with keeping an office space as clean as possible and to the highest standards of hygiene. Here’s a closer look at what’s involved:
- Clean and sanitise all phones and workstations daily.
- Clean all surfaces, handles, and doorknobs to prevent the spread of germs.
- Wipe all light switches and door frames.
- Vacuum the carpets and sweep/mop the floors daily.
- Empty all waste baskets and recycling bins. You should also clean and disinfect the trash cans regularly.
- Dust and wipe all computer monitors and keyboards to prevent a build-up of dust and dirt.
- Spot clean your windows, inside and out – including all other glass and any painted surfaces.
- Remove cobwebs from the corners of rooms.
- Dust light fixtures regularly.
- Thoroughly clean the reception area and keep it clutter-free.
- Clean the food prep areas thoroughly, daily. This includes cleaning the fridge every now and again and ensuring that the microwave/toaster or any other appliances are free of food residue and crumbs.
- Keep your meeting rooms and communal areas clean.
Another great way to keep your office clean is to set clear expectations with your employees. There should be clear and evident rules in communal areas (particularly the kitchen/food prep break rooms).
Punish repeat offenders who break these rules and do not respect your shared working environment.
When you encourage and incentivise your employees to respect their space and try to keep it clean, it will make it much easier for you to manage and stay on top of.
Ultimately, when you invest in a quality office cleaning service and keep your office at a certain level of cleanliness, your employees will respect the space more.
Neglect your office however and allow it to fall into disrepair, and your employees won’t be so conscious when cleaning up after themselves.
How often should an office be cleaned?
So, how often should an office be cleaned? Ideally, your office should be cleaned at least once a day – either in the evening once everyone has gone home, or in the mornings before your employees make their way into the office.
Certainly, if you have a small office with only a few employees, you can easily get away with having one weekly office cleaning. However, this only works if your employees are respectful and clean themselves.
You will also need to delegate and ensure that someone empties the trash cans at each desk at the end of the shift so as to ensure that there are no food waste/fruit peels in your office overnight – or for extended periods of time.
A larger office with some 20 employees will likely need at least two or three office cleans a week.
Anything bigger than that will definitely require a daily office cleaning to be on the safe side.
In any case, we believe that having your office cleaned on a daily basis is the best practice.
Is office cleaning hard work?
Office cleaning is not so much hard work as it is time-consuming. In order to clean an office to the highest possible standard, you need at least one dedicated member of staff. Of course, if you are to hire an in-house office cleaner, you’ll be responsible for paying their salary, training, and taking care of their benefits such as holiday, sick pay, and pension – etc.
This is why hiring an office cleaning company to take care of your requirements is always the recommended alternative.
You could try and split the duties between your employees, however, this will be taking their time and attention away from their other important ‘revenue generating’ tasks, so it’s not an ideal scenario.
Again, office cleaning itself isn’t necessarily difficult – however, cleaning your office thoroughly and ensuring that everything is up to code takes a certain knack, experience, and know-how.
Conclusion
To recap:
- Cleaning an office properly involves a lot of work. It’s not enough to sweep the floors and dust the workstations – everything must be regularly cleaned and polished.
- Ideally, an office should be cleaned at least once a day. For smaller offices with very few employees, once a week is reasonable. For 20+ employees, two or three times a week is recommended. Anything larger than that must be cleaned on a daily basis.
- Office cleaning isn’t so much difficult as it is time-consuming. You’re far better off hiring a professional office cleaner who can stay on top of your cleaning requirements and keep your office looking pristine (not to mention safe and healthy).
If you are on the lookout for a reputable and well-established office cleaning company, you can’t go wrong with a brand like Enjoy Life Office Cleaning Services in Sydney.
We hope you’ve found this article insightful. Ultimately, the key to a productive office is by keeping it clean and tidy. Any mess and clutter will invariably distract your employees and make them feel uncomfortable. However, a clean and tidy space will be inspiring and encourage greater productivity.
