Cleaning house is part of our regular routine, but we can often forget that it’s just as important to keep our workplace clean and orderly. A tidy, dust-free office contributes to happiness in the workplace, good working environment, and overall productivity. While it is possible to do a semi-regular big office “spring cleaning” for yourself, a professional cleaning company can be invaluable for large offices.
Whether you opt to handle major office cleaning internally or hire a commercial cleaning services company, here are a few ways to make the big job easier in the long run.
Get used to daily cleaning.
Doing a little bit of cleaning around the office every day keeps the office neat and tidy, and also means there will be less to do when the time comes for a big clean. A few things you and your employees can do daily to lessen the load are:
- Dusting light fixtures
- Wiping down desks
- Taking out the trash
- Cleaning bathroom mirrors
- Restocking kitchen and bathroom supplies as needed
- Spot cleaning windows
- Sweeping or vacuuming at the end of the day
This may seem like a lot, but if the workload is divided up among employees as part of your closing time routine, it won’t take long at all. It will be a big time-saver in the end, too, and means your office will always be tidy for visitors.
Keep your electronic equipment clean.
Every office nowadays has computers in it, and electronic equipment seems to attract dust more quickly than anything else. Worse still, if you don’t keep your electronics clean, they can malfunction. Make sure computers, registers, routers, and any other electronic equipment is kept clean and dust-free as much as possible.
Encourage employees to declutter their desks.
Tidy desks mean greater productivity. That doesn’t mean they have to be completely clear, of course; everyone likes to have a little something personal on their desks. But it’s possible to do that and still keep your workspace clean. Encourage everyone at the office to make a habit of keeping their desks orderly. (That means the drawers, too!) Not only will it make the environment nicer to work in, it will also be easier to dust when necessary.
Invest in a small hand-held vacuum for the office.
Not every mess requires a full-sized vacuum, and getting it out for the smaller messes can be time-consuming. Have a hand-held vacuum or two easily accessible so small messes can be cleaned up during the day. These can also come in handy for daily spot-cleaning.
Make weekly cleaning a habit, too.
At the end of the work week, do a little extra before you head home for the weekend. Clean the windows, vacuum the air vents, and polish any metal fixtures. This is also a good time to check the office refrigerator and make sure nothing has been left in it for too long.
Make use of a time scheduler.
The best way to make sure the office gets clean and stays clean is to integrate daily and weekly cleaning duties into the office’s regular schedule. Instead of thinking of it as an extra chore that needs to be handled, make it part of the work day. Schedule daily and weekly cleaning tasks for a certain part of the day (before it’s time to go home, for example), and make it a part of the office’s routine.
When it’s time for the big cleaning day…
If everyone at your office is doing their part on a daily and weekly basis, the “big clean” won’t seem as daunting. The office will already be tidy enough for vacuuming in those hard-to-reach places, desks will be clean enough for dusting, and there will likely be less to do in general. Therefore, taking a day once every month or so to get together and do a proper top to bottom big cleaning won’t be as much of a hassle.
Even so, though, it can still pay to hire a cleaning company to come in for jobs like these. Professional cleaning companies are trained to handle more difficult jobs, and having a “fresh start” every once in awhile can make it easier to keep things neat and clean on a regular basis.
Either way, taking time every day to keep things clean on a basic level will help make the job easier to do well — whether you do it yourselves or hire a cleaning company — and will improve the overall mood and productivity of your office space, too.