Top Tips to Keep Your Office Clean Around The Year

The average Australian worker spends almost 42 hours per week at their workplace. While the COVID-19 pandemic has seen many office workers now working from home , it has also shown us how important it is for our spaces to be clean and sanitary, all year round. When the workers eventually make it back into the office, they now expect to have a visibly hygienic and clean workspace and employers can no longer skimp on either deep or more regular, everyday cleaning.

If you’re an employer wondering how to go about office cleaning and keeping it sanitary all through the year even in areas with high footfall, here are a few tips to help:

1. Keep Desks Organised

The very first place that accumulates germs, bacteria and gives your office a neglected, unkempt look is a messy desk. Make it a habit for your employees to declutter their office desks at the end of every week. Shred any papers you no longer have a need for and file everything else away. If your office does not have any designated filing space, invest in some. Or, better yet, put everything on the cloud. Not only is it a great way of decluttering your physical space, but it is also more secure than a filing cabinet. As soon as all the stray paperwork has been sorted, you’ll immediately notice a marked improvement in the appearance of your workplace.

2. Focus on the Common Areas

High touchpoint areas, such as the fridge and microwave handles, keyboards and mice, doorknobs, printer buttons, and spaces like the toilet and pantry need to be cleaned and sanitised regularly to prevent diseases from spreading. Leave out sanitary wipes and instructions for your employees to regularly wipedown high touchpoint surfaces after use.

3. Vacuum and Mop the Floors

No client—or employee—wants to walk into your building only to be confronted with a dirty, stained carpet or a dusty floor. It leaves a poor impression on a customer, as the appearance of a business is the very first thing they are likely to notice.

The high footfall your floors see leave behind copious amounts of dust and dirt, which can accumulate over time and may lead to the spread of disease. It is important to vacuum all carpets at least once a week, followed by a deep cleaning every few months.

4. Clean Windows Are the Key

Your store or office may have been cleaned from top to bottom, but if the windows were neglected, it might as well have all been for naught. Dirty, water-stained and streaked windows are a bad look for any business, but especially for store windows, since they’re literally the vessels a customer will use to look at your products before even stepping inside!

5. Empty Trash Bins and Wastebaskets

Encourage all employees to empty out their wastebaskets at the end of the day. All waste from the premises should be removed before closing up for the day, especially that in the kitchen and toilets. Germs and bacteria can grow in trash bins, and rotting food can leave a foul, lingering odour in the room which can persist even after the offending item has been removed.

6. Don’t Forget the Cracks and Corners

The gaps between two desks, between the windowpane and the ledge, under the furniture, behind the kitchen equipment and on the skirtings are some areas that are often forgotten but can trap dust and dirt over time. Every once in a while, all furniture in the office or store should be moved to give it a good, deep cleaning to prevent germs and bacteria from multiplying and spreading.

7. Apply a ‘No Food on Desks’ Policy

Crumbs from food can lodge themselves between keys, while greasy fingers may also be a culprit towards a dirty, unsanitary desk. Encourage your employees to take proper breaks while eating, ideally away from their desks. Not only will this help make your office much more sanitary, but it will also boost employee productivity when they are able to take breaks from their work and return to it with a fresher, more creative mind.

8. Hire a Commercial Cleaning Company

As a business owner or office or floor manager, you have more important things to be worrying about than going around cleaning all week long. All of the above tasks can take a significant amount of time out of your workday, leaving you with less time to actually focus on your job. This is where a commercial cleaning company can help.

The cleaners at an esteemed commercial cleaning company are professionally trained and know exactly how office cleaning works and what parts of the office to focus on in order to keep your workplace clean and sanitary. The best office cleaning service providers may even come to your premises to do a quick analysis before coming up with a cleaning schedule and a quote based on your needs. Not only this, but they also know the right chemicals to use for maximum efficacy. Additionally, they will ultimately also be more cost-effective, as a clean space equals fewer sick days and less time and money lost due to employee absences.