A clean, tidy and well-maintained office space is vital for corporate employees’ well-being and productivity. Results from surveys and research studies findings published in journals all say the same thing: workplace clutter can negatively impact workers’ productivity and focus. A literature review by the Harvard Business Review also emphasized that physical environments affect people’s emotions, behavior and cognitive performance.
Employees are mainly responsible for their productivity, but office administrators and business owners can help them achieve their daily productivity goals by ensuring the office environment is conducive to working.
To that end, here is a comprehensive cleaning checklist to keep your office in order.
Daily Cleaning Checklist
Cleaning is a daily task that should be entrusted to capable individuals daily. Without full-time custodians or janitorial staff, offices can keep their surroundings clean and tidy by ensuring everyone pitches in and does their part in maintaining office-wide cleanliness.
Here are the daily cleaning tasks that will make your office a comfortable and healthy place to work:
Reception Area
The reception area is the first room visitors, guests and customers see when they visit your offices. It needs to be pristine so people’s first impression of your business will be pleasant. A messy reception area with a dusty counter sends the wrong message to interested customers, so this space should be a daily priority.
- Tidy the desk and put away loose forms, pens and other items.
- Dust the counter, open shelving, coffee table and other surfaces visitors can immediately see and touch.
- Dust the receptionist’s computer, keyboard, phones and other office equipment.
- Sweep or vacuum the floors.
- Mop the floors with disinfectant.
- Wipe all-surface cleaner and disinfectant on the receptionist’s desk and counter.
- Wipe the hard chairs (steel or plastic) on the reception floor.
- If you have couches, vacuum the upholstery and fluff and tidy the throw pillows.
- Clean all reflective and chrome surfaces with the appropriate cleaner to remove greasy fingerprints.
Workstations, Offices and Meeting Rooms
Cleaning workstations is tricky. Every employee has their own way of arranging their desks and a system that helps them work efficiently. This means you may be unable to move things around on people’s desks because their owners might have left things where they are on purpose.
With that in mind, here are the things your cleaning staff needs to do in open-floor workstation areas, private offices and meeting rooms:
- Sweep or vacuum the floor, especially underneath desks.
- Dust the computer station, keyboard, UPS and other devices and office equipment.
- Dust open shelving, wall decor and other surfaces.
- Empty the waste paper bins.
- Wipe and clean the conference table using an appropriate cleaner.
- Erase any non-essential writings on the whiteboard.
- Use air freshening and disinfecting spray after cleaning.
Bathrooms
The bathrooms must always be clean so everyone can use the facilities comfortably. If you lease offices in a building with full-time custodians, you can delegate the following daily cleaning tasks to them:
- Refill the soap dispensers and toilet paper.
- Mop the floors with disinfectant.
- Clean and disinfect the urinals and sinks.
- Wipe the sink and doorknobs with disinfectant.
- Wipe the mirrors and dividers with a wet rag.
- Use air freshening and disinfecting spray after cleaning.
Pantry or Breakroom
There will be a lot to clean up every day if your office has a pantry or mini kitchen where your employees prepare food, eat and take breaks in the room. A messy pantry that smells, looks and feels dirty can affect your employees’ mood and routine, affecting their productivity for the rest of the day.
Keeping the pantry or breakroom clean can go a long way to helping employees relax and recharge when they need to. Here are our daily cleaning tasks for pantries:
- Empty the garbage and put a fresh liner inside the bins.
- Wash, dry and put away all used glasses, plates, spoons, forks, etc., at the end of each day.
- Wipe the kitchen counter with a wet rag, especially near the cooking appliances like the microwave, oven toaster, coffee maker, kettle and stove.
- Wipe the tables and push the chairs in the correct position.
- Sweep or mop the floors.
- Use the appropriate disinfectant for your pantry floor (i.e., wood cleaner for wood floors and an all-surface cleaner for tiles).
- Put all perishable food in the refrigerator and refill the ice maker. Don’t leave any food out on the counter or tables.
- Wipe food splashes and crumbs from inside the microwave, oven toaster, waffle maker and other cooking appliances in your mini kitchen.
Weekly Office Cleaning Checklist
These weekly tasks apply to all four primary office areas. Some items in this checklist are on an as-needed basis, while others are more efficient and time-saving to do once a week.
- Polish the floors and hard surfaces like chrome door knobs and tile or marble countertops.
- Vacuum carpets and rugs.
- Clean the interior sides of your glass surfaces, dividers and windows using a glass cleaner.
- Wipe all telephones and consoles with a cloth moistened with disinfectant.
- Throw out all expired or spoiled food from the refrigerator.
- Sterilize the cutlery by soaking them in boiling-hot water. If you have enough space in the pantry, you can do the same to plates, glasses, mugs and other utensils.
Monthly Office Cleaning Checklist
These tasks are best done once a month because they require a lot of time and effort. Many items in this checklist are also best left to trained technicians, which justifies their monthly schedule.
Here’s what you need to do every four to six weeks, as needed:
- Deep-clean the oven, microwave and other cooking appliances.
- Deep-clean the refrigerator and check the containers for spoiled food that needs throwing out.
- Remove the sofa covers and throw pillowcases and have them washed.
- Clean grime off the exterior sides of the windows and window covers.
- Wash and polish the glass dividers and walls in the conference rooms, bathrooms and personal offices.
- Dust or clean the hard-to-reach places like the upper corners of the ceiling, cornices, chandeliers, underneath heavy furniture, etc.
- Declutter and organize the contents of drawers.
- Polish wood, chrome and steel surfaces.
- Use air freshening and disinfecting spray after cleaning.
The Benefits of a Clean Office for Business
The checklists above can seem long and daunting at first glance, but the tasks will be a breeze to complete once everyone finds their groove and develops their own cleaning routines. However, if the cleaning is a burden to your staff whose daily to-do lists are already packed, consider tapping into your building’s custodian services or hiring a commercial cleaning company.
We understand if you are hesitant to incur additional operating expenses. However, if you consider the benefits of maintaining cleanliness in your offices, the money you spend will be worth every penny.
Here’s what you can expect from having your offices cleaned by trained and equipped professional cleaners:
A Healthier Work Environment
Corporate offices are enclosed with central air conditioning. Air circulates the space and gets cooled and blown from one room to the next. This explains why office workers are prone to getting sick simultaneously. When someone catches a cold or develops a cough, their colleagues who spend eight to nine hours in the same room are at risk of catching the virus.
Regular office cleaning and disinfection help prevent sickness from starting and spreading throughout the workplace. It also helps keep clutter-induced anxiety and loss of focus at bay. Employees can only perform at their peak if they are in good health and well-being, so this is a massive benefit that justifies the expense.
Improved Employee Productivity and Efficiency
A cluttered desk can hinder a worker’s productivity. For example, an employee can look for important notes and documents for ten minutes. They can waste more time going from printer to scanner to their computer, each placed on opposite ends of the room because there’s not enough space for all of them on the clutter-filled desk.
A clean and organized office promotes better floor design and efficient flow of movement from one office machine to another. It also saves precious time spent looking for things and sorting out materials people need to work. This is how cleanliness directly impacts office productivity.
Good Image and High Moral
Peers, partners, employees, clients, everyone perceives a clean and well-maintained workplace as run by capable, trustworthy professionals people can trust. Image is everything in business, and the state of a company’s headquarters tells a lot about the business, its people and its ethics. Nothing says “professional” quite like an immaculately clean office with no hint of clutter or piece of furniture out of place.
A good image positively impacts employee morale. People feel pride in their work and the organization they belong to when they enjoy a positive reputation. Conversely, employees lose confidence when their company gains a bad reputation. They become embarrassed to work in a dirty, poorly maintained office building. Employees are unlikely to give their 100% at work if they don’t feel proud.
More Office Storage Space
Regular, professional cleaning rids your office of things no one wants or needs. With clutter getting thrown out regularly, you can free up valuable storage space for office materials and equipment you need and want to keep.
Custom Cleaning Services
The best part about hiring a professional cleaning company is you can request custom services or leave specific instructions on how you’d like a particular area of your office to be cleaned. Custom cleaning services can give you higher satisfaction and better value for your money.
Interested in hiring a professional cleaning crew to look after your offices? Get in touch with Town House Specialty Cleaning. Our OSHA-certified cleaning crew is trained and well-equipped to address the needs of corporate building tenants and commercial business offices. Contact us today to inquire about our rates and services.
You can also download a printable checklist here.