If you’re responsible for office cleaning, knowing the best ways to get the job done correctly is essential; this will help keep your office looking great and ensure that everyone who works there stays healthy and safe.
This blog post will discuss a few tips that will help make office cleaning more manageable and more efficient.
Office cleaning doesn’t have to be difficult, but it’s easy to let the paperwork take over, the broken I.T equipment pile up, and the dust and grime build-up to the point where your office building is a health hazard to your staff.
As we enter the post-lockdown world and learn to live with Covid-19, providing a clean, sanitary workspace for your team is essential.
Cleaning easy-to-clean surfaces like desks, tables, and conference room locations regularly will become standard procedure. Being explicit about a cleaning and disinfectant regimen puts employees at ease.
By getting the right equipment, putting good habits into place, and having an office cleaning schedule, you can easily keep on top of your cleaning tasks and keep your staff safe.
Before using cleaning products, use disposable gloves and appropriate PPE.
"Cleaning and organising is a practice, not a project"
So, where do you start when it comes to regular office cleaning?
Hiring a local office cleaning business is one of the most popular ways to save money on property management costs.
However, if you want to handle your office cleaning in-house rather than utilising a local office cleaning service, getting started may be daunting at first.
Before you know it, feeling overwhelmed can lead you to give up before you’ve even begun.
Breaking down big tasks into smaller parts and having a strategy beforehand makes office cleaning more manageable, so let’s go through what to start with first.
Get Tidy
People who work from a messy desk have a harder time concentrating. According to Princeton University research, the extra stimuli hampers the brain’s ability to process information.
Tidying your office as you clean adds extra time and makes it difficult to do the job properly; we advise tidying your office before gathering your cleaning supplies and equipment.
Ensure that everything is in the proper location. Storing unused equipment, dispose of or file any paperwork and remove the rubbish.
Starting with a tidy office means you won’t have to stop polishing and vacuuming to pick things up as you go. An organised and neat office saves time and makes the task less complicated.
If you’ve gotten rid of obvious clutter, you’ll have no trouble finding things, and once your workspace is clean and smells fresh, you’ll feel more productive.
Being structured and organised allows you to get the most demanding part out of the way first instead of feeling like you’re fighting a losing battle against mess.
Get A Cleaning Caddy or Trolley
Keeping your cleaning products organised and together in a cleaning caddy or trolley makes it easier to carry everything around and find what you need for the job.
Having shelves and space for a bin bag is ideal, and you can pick up a commercial cleaning trolley on wheels for under £70.
If you want something smaller, you can find a handheld cleaning caddy for around £5-£15 from most hardware stores and supermarkets. Handheld caddies have large pockets to stop spray bottles and cans from falling over. Lakeland’s deep cleaning caddy is good for £13.99 on Amazon.
If you’re unsure what to put in your trolley or caddy, begin with furniture polish, antibacterial spray, window cleaner, cloths, bin bags, and floor cleaner/carpet freshener spray.
Using reputable cleaning supplies is an absolute must too. Trying to do a decent job with inadequate cleaning products will waste your time and effort.
Invest in Contactless Technology
Hand sanitiser should be available in the office and toilet areas in your office building.
Consider using touchless dispensers, taps, and toilet cisterns and replacing hand dryers with paper towels.
Ensure soap dispensers, paper towel holders, and toilet rolls get restocked regularly.
Clean One Room at a Time
Sticking to cleaning just one room at a time sounds simple enough, but it’s frequently neglected, especially in the workplace. Start at the top of the room, working your way down to the floor.
By getting rid of cobwebs and dusting shelves and cabinets, you’re less likely to have dust falling to the floor when mopping or vacuuming.
Sticking to cleaning one room at a time is a time saver and gives you a better feeling of accomplishment after each room.
Tackling Office Paperwork
Look around your workplace. You have a problem if you have stacks of paperwork everywhere. It’s simple to remedy, though. Paperwork should be organised and filed away in cabinets or office storage.
Sorting through paperwork is a time-consuming chore, but it will save you time later if everything is in its proper place and you know where to find it when you need it.
Keeping boxes stacked up and piles of paper around is an office hazard. It can lead to a fire, but it also attracts dust and dirt, which are challenging to clean around.
Filing cabinets, desk trays, and wall pockets are all great ways to store office paperwork and keep your office looking neat and tidy.
Keeping Desks and Computer Equipment Clean
It’s good to start with anything on top of workstation surfaces when cleaning your desk and office equipment, just as it is with cleaning any room.
Studies have shown that the average work desk has more bacteria than a toilet seat, probably because so many people eat at their desks, and so few clean them. According to one survey, only slightly more than 1/3 of respondents cleaned their work areas every week.
“One of the most important things workers can do to stay healthy is to clean their desk, computer keyboard, and mouse at least once a week or to hire office cleaners who will do so.” – Busy Bee Office Cleaning Tips
If you use a coffee cup or a refillable water bottle at work, clean it with liquid dish soap and hot water once a day or take it home each night to run it through the dishwasher.
Use disinfectant wipes to clean items like your stapler, tape dispenser, scissors, and most-used pens. Wipe down all sides of the cleaning materials.
According to research from Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona, the average desk is teeming with about 800 bacteria per square inch.
The unwashed coffee cup sitting at your desk and your work phone are even grosser, with 2,200 and 1,600 bacteria per square inch compared to the office toilet seat harbouring about 59 bacteria per square inch, a small fraction of the germs you make contact with at your desk. Think about that the next time you eat lunch while taking calls or typing emails. (bhg.com)
Clean any pen holders, organisers, and paper trays with water and soap or antibacterial wipes.
Desk phones:
Disinfectant wipes can clean desk phones. Remember to unplug your phone and clean all surfaces, especially the buttons, wires, earpieces, and mouthpieces. Ideally, clean desk phones daily and whenever someone else has used a phone that isn’t their own.
Keyboards:
Keyboards are disgusting and usually the worst offenders in the workplace for harbouring bacteria. Cleaning keyboards regularly helps reduce bacteria, and it’s best to avoid shared keyboards where possible.
To clean the keyboard, start by shaking it upside down over a bin to clear anything loose lurking under the keys, and you’ll probably notice food crumbs, tiny hairs, dust, and sometimes even fingernail clippings fall out from the keyboard and into the bin. It’s best to avoid inspecting the contents too closely if you’ve not eaten yet.
You can also vacuum your keyboard using the brush attachment if necessary.
If finding enough pieces of food for a small picnic under your keyboard has left you feeling nauseated, don’t worry, as there are other ways to clean a keyboard without taking it apart. You can also invest in a mechanical keyboard that’s easier to clean, as the keys are removable.
Compressed air:
Use compressed air to spray between keyboard keys to clear anything left. Use a disinfectant wipe to clean the keyboard, but be careful not to use wipes containing too much liquid as these can drip between keys and damage the computer keyboard.
Computer screens:
Cleaning screens should be a regular task but be careful not to use paper towels, rags, glass cleaners, and other harsh cleaning products, as they can damage the LCD screen. Instead, use a soft, dry, lint-free microfiber cloth to gently clean the screen with a screen cleaning solution or mild soapy water.
Keep toilet areas disinfected
Keeping your office toilets clean is an essential safety measure for customers and employees. These are usually high traffic areas in most offices and need cleaning at least once every day.
If you have a commercial cleaning service, they should generally clean the toilets; but if you’re a small or micro firm and want to do it yourself, follow these steps:
For toilets, pour a generous amount of cleaning solution into the toilet bowl and leave to soak for around ten minutes. Next, use a toilet mop swab inside of the toilet bowl thoroughly and flush. Use a damp microfiber cloth soaked in a cleaning solution to wipe the exterior, including seats and handles. Repeat this process for urinals.
Improve Air Quality
Research has proven that breathing better air can lead to significant improvements in staff performance.
Air contamination from bacteria, fungi, viruses, and volatiles emitted by cleaning chemicals is a massive cause of workplace infection.
Concentrate on plumbing, ventilation, and filtration systems that filter, dilute, and remove pollutants to keep your office healthy.
The Benefits of Regular Office Cleaning
Cleaning the workplace doesn’t have to be a big job. You can easily keep a clean and organised office environment without being overwhelmed by taking things one step at a time.
Regularly cleaning your office does more than make it look good. You’ll also raise morale and have a happier workforce. If you have visitors to your office, they may not notice how clean it is, but a dirty, dusty, messy office leaves a lasting impression; As well as that, a dirty office is a breeding ground for illnesses.
Wherever there is grime and moisture, bacteria will constantly be growing. Having clean surfaces reduces the chance of your staff passing illnesses around the office, giving everyone a better chance of staying fit and healthy.
Encourage your staff to get involved to keep their workstation clean and safe. If you haven’t already, keep sanitiser handy at all times when handwashing is inconvenient.
Having a filing system in place for paperwork is important to avoid a build-up of office clutter. Encourage staff to use it and tidy away any loose paperwork lying around. Obsolete paperwork that has been kept for years can be a fire risk.
Managing the cleaning routine of an office is hard work, but it can become much more manageable by creating a schedule and dividing the cleaning tasks among employees. And with a clean office comes increased productivity, morale, and a safer work environment for everyone.
Cleaning an office is not always the most glamorous task, but it is necessary. By following these office cleaning tips, you can be sure that your workplace is clean and presentable.
