Keep your office clean with these simple tips

Office cleanliness has never been more important. It is critical that people feel safe and secure in their work environments and in a post-2020 world; this includes cleanliness. The following will explore some simple tips that can help you manage office cleanliness in addition to your regular day’s work.

Of course, every workplace is different and so additional steps might be required depending on traffic and how often people within your workplace touch the same items. As well, the amount of mess your work creates will also impact cleaning.

Schedule it out

First and foremost, one of the best things you can do to help keep the office clean is to make a list of all the cleaning tasks and how often they need to be done and schedule out what is going to happen when. Some people find it useful to have a daily cleaning checklist, a weekly checklist, and a monthly list, as well as a deep clean list to be tackled each time the seasons change. You can then either assign cleaning tasks to members of staff or hire a professional commercial cleaning service to take care of everything and leave your office spotless. You can even figure out some sort of hybrid between the two giving some tasks to staff and others to professionals. For example, you might want to hire a cleaning service for your weekly and monthly cleans, but leave the daily tasks to your staff.

Be aware of fragrances

The goal of cleaning the office is having it be clean, but for many customers and employees, fragrance causes allergy-like symptoms (and even those who don’t have symptoms have an inflammatory response to fragrances because the body treats fragrance like a toxin because that’s technically what it is). That’s right, fragrance is really bad for your health and the health of your staff. Make it a policy that all products used to clean are fragrance-free. It’s also important that you understand that “scent-free” or “unscented” doesn’t mean fragrance free. Often it means that additional fragrance has been added to cover up the initial scent. If you want to take this precaution to the next level, you could use hypoallergenic products. 

Don’t overkill with sanitizer

Sanitizer has its uses, and those are pretty spectacular, but not everything needs to be doused in chemicals that kill everything they come in contact with. In particular, when in the office kitchen, be wary of sanitizing cleaning products coming in contact with people’s food or anything they put in their mouths. Just like these chemicals are toxic to 99% of germs, they’re also toxic to humans. Yes, small doses probably won’t be noticed, but given how much everyone is sanitizing things lately, it is beginning to be a concern. As well, if there are areas that people’s skin comes in contact with often and you sanitize these surfaces, be sure to dry the area with a clean cloth afterwards to reduce the leftover sanitizer as it can be absorbed by people’s skin.

Wash the walls and the doors

One of the most underrated things to clean if you want an overall fresh vibe in your office is the walls and the doors. People absentmindedly run their hands along walls and doors, or lean on them, or splash coffee on them as they pass. Oils and other grime build up on walls and doors, but typically this happens so slowly that you don’t notice it. Take a washcloth with mild soap to the walls, and you’ll be shocked how much brighter and cheerier your office suddenly seems.

Get plants

While it might not seem like plants contribute to the cleanliness of your office, they do. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen resulting in fresher air filled with fewer pollutants and toxins. In an office where lots of people are breathing and working, the air can quickly become stale (especially in cold winter months when doors and windows are kept closed). Plants literally clean the air by removing toxins. It also makes the air more oxygen-rich, which helps creativity, focus, and productivity. If the office is perfectly clean but still doesn’t feel clean, plants might make the difference. As a bonus, studies have indicated that an environment with plants in it boosts people’s mood and lowers levels of stress, resulting in greater employee satisfaction.

The above tips should help you take your office cleanliness to the next level. Of course, if you’re handling sensitive materials, always follow professional guidelines for cleaning to reduce the risk of damaging items.

 

08/12/2021