Office maintenance is crucial to running a successful business. Unfortunately, because this aspect of office management isn’t income generating, there are plenty of business owners who forgo a rigorous cleaning schedule for their offices. This is an issue for several reasons.
The cleanliness of your office directly impacts not only your employee’s productivity but also your reputation. The last thing you want is for a potential client to visit your unkempt space and decide against working with your business.
Keen on not making the same mistakes but clueless about where to start? This article is a concise guide on the top office cleaning and organizing tips that you need to keep your space in tip-top shape.
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Truth be told, maintaining the cleanliness of an office isn’t simple. Not all employees have the same standard for “clean.” Some individuals can tolerate a more significant amount of dirt and mess. That said, below are a few tried and tested tips that you can implement in your workspace:
Even in today’s digital age, paper remains one of the most common clutter in the office. Piles of documents are unsightly. Diligence is key to keeping the paper mess at bay. However, not everyone is keen on organizing their files frequently.
The key to tackling paperwork is to minimize hard copies altogether. Almost everyone in the office has a laptop and internet connection. It is wiser to utilize these resources than sticking to the norms of years passed.
Working in an office can be stressful. Most workspaces are fast-paced. There are plenty of things to do, and tasks never seem to run out. That said, we are confident that some of your employees do not necessarily mean making a mess and leaving it out. Because of the stressful nature of work, they might have simply forgotten about your rules.
To keep this situation from happening, it is a good idea to place visual cues of your cleanliness guidelines throughout the office. Place these posters where they are relevant. This small investment can do wonders for the cleanliness of your work area.
Setting a regular cleaning schedule for your maintenance team helps eliminate the chances of dirt, dust, and pathogens from piling up. Your plan should be divided into daily tasks, weekly tasks, and monthly tasks. To make sure that your employees stick to the regimen, provide a professional office cleaning checklist to tick off as they finish each activity.
To be honest, the clean desk policy isn’t for everyone. Especially for operations that hinge on their employee’s creativity, little trinkets and tiny mementos can help bolster their productivity and improve their output. That said, there is merit to this somewhat authoritarian policy. A lot of companies have found success with clean desk policies. After all, no clutter means dust and dirt become easily noticeable and harder to ignore.
The key to imposing a clean desk policy is tailor fitting the guidelines based on the type of operation you run. There are no hard and fast rules with clean desk policies.
The 7-Step Cleaning Process is a practical framework that would leave your office clean and sanitized. This process is often used in the food preparation industry, where cleanliness is paramount. Nevertheless, the process isn’t exclusive to F&B businesses. Incorporating the 7-Step Cleaning Process in your maintenance flow is a guaranteed way to protect the health and wellness of your employees.
The 7-Step Cleaning Process is the standard operating procedure for most commercial cleaning services. It was first developed to accommodate the needs of the food preparation industry, wherein a missed step might cause infection and disease.
There are variations to the steps as determined by the type of company and the scale. For the most part, below are key points that most guidelines follow:
Before the cleaning process, the entire facility is checked and inspected. This includes the desks, the shared areas like the pantry, the HVAC systems, the windows, the floors, and frequently used equipment in an office setting. If the equipment needs to be taken apart, they are broken down for inspection.
This is a necessary first step to gauge the extent of cleaning an area needs to be safe for the employees.
Most operations consider sweeping the first actual step in actively cleaning and sanitizing a space. This part entails the physical removal of visible debris from surfaces within the office. Sweeping isn’t necessarily contained to sweeping the floors. All areas need to be dusted to get rid of particulates that can hamper the effectiveness of the next few steps.
Aside from a broom and a vacuum, a scraper and some warm water are used to deal with hard to remove stains. It is essential to use warm water and not boiling since hot water can make stains more adherent.
After making sure that all debris has been removed from all surfaces, it is time to apply detergent to the area. Depending on the size of your office, this step can be done manually or with the help of a mechanical foamer.
Word of warning: not all surfaces, especially floors, are cleaned with a detergent. For instance, it takes a different method to clean carpets altogether. In those specific instances, this step requires applying a cleaning agent – whichever might be appropriate.
The natural next step following washing is rinsing. In this step, the main goal is to remove the cleaning age thoroughly. This can be accomplished through several means depending on the type of product used for the process.
Often at this point, a secondary inspection happens to check if the cleaning efforts are sufficient.
In order to be truly clean, all areas of the office must be dry to the touch. This is because particles might adhere to a moist area. Similar to rinsing, there are plenty of ways to tackle this step. In most cases, simple air drying is enough to sanitize an area thoroughly. This is why it is best to conduct these seven steps during downtimes or when the office is closed.
Stocking items happens before the final inspection. At this point, your maintenance team is tasked to refill supplies of commonly used resources in the office. This includes toilet paper rolls, hand soap, paper towels, and dishwashing liquid.
At the final inspection, the office manager or business owner does a walk-through of the office space and determines whether the cleaning is up to par with their expectations.
As a business owner, you simply cannot overlook the cleanliness of your office. More than first impressions, a clean office boosts morale and safeguards the health and wellness of your most precious resource – your employees.
Especially for first-time business owners, maintaining an office can be overwhelming. Thankfully, for your Hartford County, Connecticut commercial cleaning needs, there is Burgos Cleaning Service, LLC. Reach out to us today; we are ready for your questions and queries!
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