A clean workspace is so much more than just a luxury. Not only does workplace cleanliness have a huge impact on how visitors and potential clients view your office and your staff, it can have a substantial impact on employee productivity. In a messy office, workers may be up to 72% less productive. They may struggle to complete basic tasks or figure out where things are, or they may find themselves distracted by the messes around them. Hiring a professional cleaning service to take care of your office cleaning, on the other hand, can help keep all of your employees working more efficiently.
Thoroughly cleaning your office offers a number of other benefits, too. Employees aren't just more productive. They're also more productive and more likely to stay healthy. If you miss cleaning important areas, employees are more likely to share germs, passing illness around the office and leading to both a dip in productivity and a dip in morale.
Often, however, even clean offices fail to take note of a number of important elements of the cleaning process. Many people don't think about these areas becoming dirty--or they may assume that they don't really need to be cleaned. Are you missing out on these five important locations that are often missed during the office cleanup?
1. Doorknobs and Switch Plates
How many times a day do employees and visitors throughout your workplace handle doorknobs? Most of the time, you probably don't even think about how often you're handling them. What about switch plates: you likely switch the lights on and off without ever stopping to wonder about the germs that might have accumulated on that area. Unfortunately, that means those areas can quickly get covered in germs, especially if you happen to be passing sickness around the office.
Instead of letting your doorknobs and switch plates become some of the dirtiest areas in your office, make sure that you're taking the time to clean them regularly. Simply swiping them down with a disinfecting wipe can go a long way toward preventing the spread of germs. Encourage sick people in the office to use a tissue to flip switches or open doors.
2. Electronics
Your keyboard and mouse, which you use every day, probably don't get a lot of cleaning attention--and chances are, they should. You use them every day, your hands all over them. You reach up and scratch your nose, cough, sneeze, and often go straight back to handling your keyboard and mouse again, sometimes without even stopping to use hand sanitizer. After all, you're in the middle of your busy work day, and you don't have time to disinfect your keyboard every time you sneeze during allergy season.
Unfortunately, this can also mean that germs build up fast on your electronics--especially if you share your computer or other electronics with other employees in your office. Make sure that you're taking the time to disinfect your mouse, your keyboard, and even your monitor--not to mention any other machinery you use on a regular basis, including handheld scanners and safety equipment--on a regular basis. Put a time in your schedule to deep clean your keyboard: use compressed air to blow out dust, food particles, and other debris that gets caught between under the keys. Not only will it keep it cleaner, it will help prolong the life of your equipment.
3. Walls
Chances are, you don't give a lot of thought to the walls in your office. Unless you work in a particularly casual office, you probably don't drag your hands and feet along the walls the way your children do with your walls at home--but they can build up dust, dirt, and other stains nonetheless. Your walls may be home to pollen and other allergen triggers. Wiping them down with a soap and water mixture--typically based on the type of paint you have on the walls, since you don't want to damage it--can help prevent the buildup of those messes and keep your office looking sharp. Even more importantly, cleaning your walls on a regular basis can help prolong the life of your paint and prevent you from having to add an expensive new coat to your budget.
4. The Water Cooler
The office water cooler is a constant source of water for everyone in the office--not to mention a chance for employees to hang around and chat for a few minutes between their other duties. At the same time, however, the water cooler represents an opportunity for mould, mildew, and other grit to start to grow. Many times, the water cooler gets refilled without anyone taking the time to clean it out. In other cases, it may end up with dirt and grime underneath the water spout or even on the spout itself.
Avoid spreading germs around the office by cleaning the water cooler on a regular basis. When it needs to be refilled, take the time to wash it out. Also, make sure to deep clean around the water cooler on a regular basis to keep mould or mildew from growing or dirt from accumulating.
5. Light Fixtures
Out of sight, out of mind: it applies to many areas of the office when it comes to cleaning, and your light fixtures may well be no exception. Not only are they often up above your head, where there's no reason to look at them on a regular basis, you may not look at them directly particularly often.
Unfortunately, your light fixtures may quickly accumulate dirt and grime, especially if you don't take the time to clean them on a regular basis. Make sure to include light fixtures as a regular part of your cleaning schedule to keep the office looking its best. Simply wiping down the light fixtures when you change a burnt out bulb--if you do it then--may not be enough.
Are you tired of struggling to take care of cleaning tasks around the office on your own--including remembering those seldom-cleaned areas that can have a huge impact on office health? Contact us today to learn more about our cleaning services and how we can help keep your office looking its best.
