16 Tips To Keep Your Office Clean And Pristine

Most of us spend more time in the office than anywhere else and we would like to think that this space is clean and healthy.

The unfortunate truth is that the office is often one of the dirtiest places out there. The phone on your desk alone contains around 25,127 germs per square inch, so you can imagine what kind of germs there are throughout the entire office.

It’s important to keep your office as clean and pristine as possible – but how do you actually go about making sure of that? Well, we have created a list of easy tips you can start implementing in your office today!

1. Use Sanitizers

One of the very best things you can do to keep your office clean and hygienic is to provide hand sanitizers. If you have these dotted around the office here and there, and you encourage people to actually use them, then you are going to help curb the spread of germs.

If you start promoting the use of hand sanitizers, you will find that fewer people take off of work because they are sick and your employees are more productive overall.

2. File Paper Away

One of the main causes of a mess in the office is paper but sometimes using paper is unavoidable. One day your office may go completely paperless but for now, we need to make sure we are properly disposing of paper whenever it turns up.

By having a rule where everyone files paper away as it is produced or recycles the paper after they are done with it, you are going to find that the office remains tidier.

The job of tidying up then becomes considerably easier and less stressful to manage. File paper right away for a much cleaner office overall.

3. Dust Every Day

Dusting is an important part of keeping any space clean. Dust is actually a big problem, as it is one of the main ways in which germs and diseases get carried from place to place.

So, if you are working in a dusty office, you will find that not only is it unpleasant, it is also likely to cause a greater risk of illness in the workplace too. Keep on top of the dust every day, and you will find that the office is considerably cleaner and that everyone is much happier to be working there too.

If dusting every day sounds like a chore you would rather have someone else take care of, click below to get a free quote from the cleaning team at MC Janitorial today!

4. Provide A Home For Everything

A big part of keeping things tidy around the office is ensuring that there is a home for everything. If there is not, then you will struggle to keep your office clean and organized.

Finding homes for things is not always straightforward and simple, but as long as you put some effort into it you should find it is not that hard.

Generally, there is going to be a logical and sensible home for all the items that the office needs, so you won’t need to worry about it too much. If there is anything that seems out of place all of the time like a bulky shredder, then you might want to look into finding a place for the item temporarily and then replacing the item with something that is easier to store in the future.

5. Clean the Electronics

It is amazing how often people forget to clean their electronics within the office.

If you want the office to be kept as pristine as possible, then you are going to need to make sure that the electronics are being kept clean as much as anything else.

Cleaning the electronics will mean that you can keep desk areas cleaner and more organized, especially if you make a point of dusting underneath wires and under computers.

6. Clean The Fridge

Arguably, the fridge is one of the most important places you have to clean in the office. If your employees are consistently getting sick, it could very well be because your fridge is housing a ton of dangerous germs.

When cleaning the fridge, it is important to make sure that no chemicals are used, as these often interact badly with the food that is sitting in there.

Most modern fridges have shelves that can be removed and washed in the sink. This makes it easy to quickly wash the shelves with soap and water and then replace them.

7. Don’t Overlook The Walls

It can be so easy to forget about cleaning the walls in your office – even though they are right there in front of you. A clean office needs to have truly clean walls, and as long as that is dealt with you will find that you are going to be keeping a much cleaner office overall.

Walls should not be cleaned too abrasively, as you are only going to remove the paint or the wallpaper if you scrub too hard.

Gently dabbing stained or discolored spots once every now and then should be enough to help keep the office clean and pristine.

8. Strategize

Whenever you are cleaning any area, you need to make sure that you have a good strategy before you begin.

Without a strategy in place, you risk not accomplishing what you originally set out to do. You will probably find that you will have to do it again and again, to get it right anyway.

If you have a proper strategy in place, then you should not have to spend hours cleaning your office. A good strategy pays attention to everything that needs cleaning, the order of priority, and what is likely to be achieved in a specific time scale.

9. Use Entrance Mats

Floors, especially in entryways, are always going to get dirty. Entryways are one of the main spaces that you need to pay attention to in order to keep your office clean.

One of the preventative measures that you should seriously consider taking is to use entrance mats at all entrances to the building. This simple, low-key approach to keeping floors clean and it is amazing what a difference it can make to the overall cleanliness of the office.

10. Label Food Properly

Back in the kitchen or the break room, and you will find that there is plenty you can do to keep food safe. Food safety is a big part of keeping everyone healthy, and something that is closely aligned with keeping a clean office in general.

Labeling food properly is going to mean that everyone knows the system, they know when something should be thrown out and what it is. This is essential for keeping the office healthy and not making people sick.

Have everyone label their food. If you have employees that bring in bulk items for lunch make sure they put the date on their food so everyone knows when it can be thrown out.

11. Avoid Using Sponges

Contrary to popular belief some sponges actually cause more harm than good, for the simple fact that they are a breeding ground for bacteria.

This is why they are generally not allowed in restaurants – and nor should you allow them in your office’s break area.

Instead of sponges for cleaning dishes and so on, use brushes or disposable towels. This is going to ensure that germs are dealt with much more professionally and that in particular, you are not doing anything to purposefully help those germs along.

If you absolutely need sponges, use ones that are anti-bacterial and won’t harbor unwanted germs.

12. Stock Up On Soaps

There are a few kinds of soap that you will need to think about using in your break room, and they are each important in keeping everything and everyone clean.

First of all, you need some good quality hand soap, especially in break areas. You will also need some dish soap, as dishes are going to need to be cleaned, and the product itself should be high-quality and environmentally friendly.

Then you will also need some disinfecting counter cleaner, we know that this isn’t exactly soap but this will help to keep germs from spreading too fast, in an area where they are generally likely to do just that. With these three amigos on your side, you are going to have a much cleaner break room.

13. Keep The Trash Dry

The trash can is obviously one place where you are always going to have bacteria floating around. It is impossible to stop that entirely, but there are some steps you can take to ensure that it is not going to be too much of a problem.

Most importantly, you should make sure that you are keeping the trash can and the area surrounding it dry. Bacteria love to live in moisture, so if you keep it dry they are going to find it much harder to survive in those conditions. This is an essential step to keeping the break room areas perfectly clean, so make sure that you prioritize this.

14. Clean Coffee Pots Regularly

You might be surprised to learn that items such as coffee pots tend to have a lot of potential for carrying diseases.

There are a lot of germs on coffee pots, in part because of the nature of coffee itself – in fact, that is why coffee grounds provide such good material for plant compost.

Of course, in the office, that is not what you want at all, so you will want to make sure that those coffee pots are being cleaned every day at least once a day or every time they are used. That might sound like overkill, but it really is one of the most important parts of the break room that you need to think about cleaning.

15. Prepare An Emergency Cleaning Kit

You might find that you need to carry out some emergency cleaning, and when that needs to happen you have to make sure that you can do it fast.

You need to act quickly so that you can keep everyone as safe as possible, and it’s also a matter of ensuring that you avoid the germs spreading too quickly, which can be a real problem if you are not careful.

Preparing an emergency cleaning kit is going to help a lot here. Such a kit should contain: wet floor signs, antibacterial products like wipes, disinfectant wipes, gloves for cleaning, and whatever else you might think is relevant in such an instance.

16. Clean Up After Special Events

From time to time, you will of course host special events in your office. When that happens, you need to remember that after that party or event is an important time to clean, what with all those people milling around and all the potential for germs that creates. So make sure that you clean up after those special events if you want to really keep your looking its best.

As you can see, there is plenty that you should consider in order to keep your office clean and pristine. Follow these steps and you will find that it isn’t as hard as it seems!

Want some help keeping your office clean? Click below to learn more about the cleaning services at MC Janitorial!