15 Tips for a Clean and Tidy Office

Keeping the office clean is no easy task. You need to have the right tools and the right people to freshen up your meeting space. Keep reading for tips on how to clean an office.

Why Is a Clean Office Space Important?

Keeping the office clean is essential for both businesses and employees. Your employees will be proud of where they work, and productivity will increase when you make tidying up a priority.

• Makes your company look good: A clean and tidy office improves your business’s appearance and demonstrates your attention to detail. When businesses look clean, they impress their clients and other visitors. A neat office gives your employees and clients confidence in your business.
• Provides safety from germs: Desks have 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat. Cleaning the office also makes the office safer and provides a healthy environment for employees. A thorough cleaning avoids germ buildup, especially on hard-to-reach surfaces where germs form and spread.
• Is better for the environment: Clean offices promote a healthier environment, especially when the cleaning products are eco-friendly and hypoallergenic. A clean office reduces the risk of illness. Cleaning your floors will improve air quality and will increase morale among your employees.
• Saves money: Sickness in the workplace costs American employers billions each year. Employers pay thousands per employee to cover sick time. Save money by keeping the office clean and preventing the spread of germs. Deep cleaning stretches your budget further. If you keep up with cleaning your office, your floors and furniture will last longer. Spending money on cleaning your hard floors or carpet is more cost-effective than spending money on a new floor.
• Increases productivity: Clean offices increase profit and provide a better use of wages. Keeping the office clean relieves stress and helps employees complete tasks more efficiently.

15 Tips for a Clean Office

Maintaining a clean and tidy office is a team effort. Use these 15 tips to learn how to clean an office professionally to maintain a healthy work environment for your employees and clients. These office cleaning tips will help you form a plan for how to get employees to keep the office clean.

 1. Schedule Time to Clean Your Office

Create a schedule to manage all of the tasks on your cleaning to-do list. If you are working with a corporate office cleaning company, create a checklist to communicate what services you need. Organize the items on your list by what needs to be done daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly and yearly.

Stay on top of your tasks and keep your workspace clean. When determining how to clean an office building, brainstorm some office clean up day ideas and knock out all your cleaning projects in a workday. Also, make sure to tidy up your workspace each day to maintain an overall healthy environment.

2. Declutter and Organize Your Workspace

Since decluttering is such a time-consuming task, you only need to purge your space once or twice a year. Decluttering is also helpful before a big move, so you don’t have to carry as much with you. Use the following techniques to remove the clutter that has piled up in your space over the years:

• Clear the area: If you have space, it’s best to take all of the items out of shelves and cabinets and put them somewhere else. With all the items gone, you can easily wipe down a clear surface before replacing them.
• Sort your items: Sort your items to figure out what you need and what you don’t. Doing this saves you money over time, as you will probably find pens and sticky notes that you don’t have to order! Sort your items into keep, maybe and discard piles. Consider what items you need, what items you can hold onto for now, and what things you can throw out.
• Assign your items to specific places: Figure out the most logical places for your items in terms of how often you use them and how accessible you need them to be.
• Store your items in shelves, bins and dividers: Loose papers can crowd a workspace, especially when the documents have piled up over the years. Dividers can easily slip into a desk and provide for efficient storage for your office workers, and file cabinets can make shared documents easy to access for all employees.
• Add hang-up hooks to your office’s walls: That way, everyone can hang up their coats instead of putting them on their chairs.

3. Dust the Office Area

Dusting protects your electronics from static buildup and maintains the overall appearance of your office space. Clean the dust out of vents, keyboards and fans. Follow these steps for how to keep your office dust-free:

• Start on high surfaces like the tops of cabinets and work your way down.
• Move objects out of your way to dust underneath them and behind them.
• Wipe the surface to completely remove the dust from your workspace.
• Wipe spots and stains off walls and desks with a microfiber cloth, rinsing your soiled cloths with warm water.
• Use only microfiber cloths or anti-static wipes to clean computer screens.
• Dust any wooden furniture following the pattern of the grain.
• As you dust blinds, dust the top of the blinds first and then dust each side of the blinds.
• Dust all objects in the hallway, including wall signs, fire extinguishers and door handles.
• Use vacuum cleaners to remove the dust from furniture and the carpet.

4. Clean Hard-To-Reach Places by Rearranging Your Office Space

Cleaning the office is necessary to keep your facility neat and sanitary. Pay special attention to those hard-to-reach places, such as ceilings and spaces behind furniture. Even consider rearranging the furniture so that there aren’t large gaps behind file cabinets or sofas.

The gridwork between your ceiling tiles or textures can contain debris, dust, moisture and pathogens. Your ceilings gridwork could rust or discolor over time and make your ceiling look dirty. A professional office cleaning company will have the equipment needed to clean and paint your ceiling grids to restore the life of your ceiling.

5. Throw Out the Garbage Every Day

One of the most important office cleaning tips is throwing out the garbage at the end of the day, and cleaning your garbage can once a week to prevent smells. Remember to discard the trash in the break room, the bathrooms, each employee’s desk and the lobby. If you don’t have a daily professional office cleaning service, you can ask each employee to be responsible for the trash at their own desks or create a schedule, so a different person is responsible for all the trash on different days.

6. Put Down Mats for All Office Entries

Mud is easy to bring into an otherwise clean office space during a rainstorm but difficult to remove from the carpet. Provide mats at all entryways to give visitors an opportunity to wipe their feet so they don’t track mud into the office. Don’t forget to add cleaning entryway mats to your to-do list!

8. Use the Right Cleaning Products and Equipment For Office Clean Up

Use non-toxic, hypoallergenic products that won’t harm your employees. When cleaning your carpet and floors, use a neutral cleaner that doesn’t smell or compromise the coloring. Many businesses find success with green cleaning, a type of cleaning that uses commercial cleaning methods and supplies that don’t harm the environment.

A few tips for green cleaning include:

• Properly dispose of hazardous chemicals, waste and batteries at a recycling facility.
• Change air filters often to promote cleaner air.
• Minimize unnecessary waste by investing in or encouraging others to use reusable cups, bottles and coffee filters.
• Recycle paper, plastic and glass waste products and take advantage of buyback or manufacturer-sponsored recycling incentives.
• Look for cleaning supplies that are free of chlorine, artificial fragrances, dyes and other chemicals, as well as packaging that is easy to recycle or repurpose.
• Partner with a professional commercial cleaning service that understands green cleaning techniques or uses eco-friendly supplies upon request.

You should also change your cleaning tools often for best results and use up-to-date equipment and products to prevent the spread of germs. For example, a duster or bathroom mop that has been collecting germs for 10 years will not effectively remove the germs from your bathroom. Commercial cleaners have the best equipment available for you.

9. Clean the Office Carpets

Get the carpet cleaned, because carpets can hold dust and germs. Even if you vacuum the carpet every day, you can get sick if you don’t clean the carpet with a steamer. Clean the carpet and tile to make it presentable for clients by getting rid of stuff that gets stuck in the carpet. Encapsulation cleaning is a process of deep cleaning carpets with powerful chemicals that surround and crystallize dirt particles.

Use the encapsulation method for cleaning carpets by:

1. Using a pump sprayer, spray the encapsulation fluid into the carpet.
2. Wait 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
3. Using a rotary brush or similar machine, work the encapsulation fluid into the carpet.
4. After the carpet is dry, vacuum to pick up the encapsulating debris.

Implement regular stain removing appointments or services to keep carpet looking and smelling fresh.

10. Clean Hard Floors Around the Office

Hard floors are difficult to clean because they are not all the same. While regularly cleaning, sweeping and mopping your floors is important, you also need a customized plan depending on what type of floor you have.

Some common types of hard floors are:

• Hardwood: Maintaining hardwood floors can include a typical epoxy prep and application as well as standard deep cleaning. Unsealed wood surfaces pose a significant challenge since they can’t come into contact with water or most cleaners. For best results, have your hardwood floors sealed with a polyurethane coating and avoid oils or polishes.
• Laminate: Proper care of laminate flooring means you must thoroughly clean around the seams without depositing moisture underneath them. Over time, mismanaged laminate flooring can warp, bubble or peel away.
• Linoleum: Disinfecting sprays and floor cleaning solutions with a high pH level can damage linoleum. Instead, look for linoleum-specific cleaners or consult a professional.
• Stone: Unsealed stone or concrete floors are porous, which means they can harbor germs and bacteria. Some types of stone, like marble and limestone, are also vulnerable to acid stains. Incorporate regular floor sealing into your office cleaning procedures and dry stone surfaces thoroughly.

11. Clean Tile and Grout

As you perform daily work tasks, move furniture, eat and clean, your tiles and grout can get dirty or discolor. For these reasons, most people complain about the quality of their grout and tile over time.

Some of these complaints include:

• Grout discoloration and staining
• Tile staining and dullness
• Dark areas between tile and grout
• General wear and tear
• Smelly grout

Clean tiles can boost employee morale, establish a set of high standards and create a positive first impression for new employees, clients and guests. Restore the life of your tile and grout by treating it with high-alkaline chemicals. Scrub the floor using high-powered steam flow followed by immediate vacuuming. Rinse the floor with water.

12. Clean Your Office Furniture

Your furniture holds germs, stains, odor and bacteria. Promote a cleaner, healthier environment with regular cleaning.

Here are a few tips for keeping your office furniture clean and organized:

• If you spill something like coffee, ink or food on your office furniture, clean up the spill right away, so it doesn’t stain.
• Before cleaning upholstery, test the cleaning product on a small area of the furniture to avoid damage.
• Follow the directions for your products to prevent discoloring of your upholstery or hard surfaces.
• Clean your desk at the end of each day to keep it clear of potential spill hazards or clutter that can harbor dust and build up over time.

13. Wipe Windows and Exterior Signs

Clean windows, blinds and curtains of dust and stains. Clean windows let more natural light into your office, creating a more positive work environment. A professional cleaning company will clean your interior and exterior windows. Do not attempt to clean hard-to-reach windows on your own.

Remember to maintain the upkeep of your exterior signs to keep the outside of your office clean.

14. Get Workers to Clean Common Areas

Instead of tackling your whole office at once, plan to clean and disinfect one room at a time. If you need a visual, draw a floor plan of your workspace. Here are specific ways for how to get employees to keep a clean office by each room in your office:

• Conference rooms: Clean whiteboards after you are finished using them. Take special care if there is a permanent marker stain on the whiteboard.
• Restrooms: As the host of the whole office’s germs, restrooms with high traffic should be cleaned and disinfected every day. Disinfect your toilet bowls with a toilet brush and cleaner. Wipe down the sink and counter as well. Clean the floors with a broom and a mop. Restock the soap, paper towels and toilet paper.
• Break room: When food builds up in the kitchen, crumbs and grime can attract pests. Include weekly refrigerator cleaning and wipe it down with disinfectant wipes. Clean microwaves once a day by wiping the residue with a paper towel and spraying diluted essential oils to eliminate odors. Clean the dish drainer every day to prevent mildew. Replace hand towels, dish towels and sponges regularly.
• Waiting room: Waiting rooms are where clients spend most of their time. Make this room as presentable as possible to give a great first impression to your customers. Clean the seating area of crumbs and grime. Make sure any magazines you put out for your customers to read are up to date. Wipe the walls and clean fingerprints off of windows. Clean the floor with a vacuum or mop.

Dividing your space into rooms will also help you organize your area in the future. When each item has its own home, employees know where to put it when they are finished.

15. Hire a Professional Office Cleaning Company

Performing an office clean up can be overwhelming on top of the to-do lists your employees already have. Here are the benefits of trusting a professional to deep clean your office for you:

• Convenience: Instead of taking time out of your workday to organize a cleaning routine, leave it to the professionals. A professional cleaning service will handle all the management, hiring and training of cleaners so that you could focus on your business.
• State of the art equipment: Professional cleaning services have the proper equipment to clean exterior windows up to four stories high, as well as interior windows. Professionals have what they need, so they do not have to disturb the workflow of your company. They also can clean your hard floors and carpets, making them look like new.
• Efficiency: Professional cleaning equipment cleans deeper than you can see. Expert cleaners know where germs like to hide and will concentrate on the areas that hold the most germs, so your employees can be safe.

Why Corporate Cleaning & Facility Services Is the Cleaning Company for Your Business

Our mission at Corporate Cleaning & Facility Services has always been to exceed the customer’s expectations. Attention to detail and to you as our customer is sure to enthrall you and give you peace of mind about the cleanliness of your office space. We exceed your expectation by following these protocols:

1. We never bill a client until we’ve made a follow-up call and made sure the customer is satisfied.
2. All employees are background checked and highly trained. We value our employees, so they want to do their job.
3. Our equipment and protocols are top-of-the-line.
4. We practice open communication throughout the entire cleaning process.

Corporate Cleaning & Facility Services will help keep your office clean on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. If you are in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area and are wondering how to keep an office clean, we will set up a meeting with you to understand what you’re looking for and how we could best be of service to you. Contact us for a free quote.

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