An office is a busy place. There are lots of busy people coming in and out each day, and it’s not very often that someone has time to stop and clean! However cleaning is very central to our health and wellbeing, and offices are high-risk areas for spreading illness. As time and resources can be scarce, it is important to be able to complete cleaning and other tasks in an efficient way.
To help you keep on top of the mess in your office without it costing you too much time, here are our top tips for speedy cleaning:
Be tidy
The best way to take care of the mess is to avoid creating it altogether! Keep the office tidy by making sure everything is put away at the end of the day, and that people clean up after themselves as they go about their day. So when it’s time to clean, most of the hard work is already done!
In order to keep everything tidy and do some effective speed cleaning, you’ll need to make sure that staff have all the gear they need. This means having enough recycling and rubbish bins for everyone. Because communal rubbish bins can get a bit smelly, they’ll need to be regularly emptied and wiped out.
Your team will also need plenty of shelves, cupboards, and desk storage space so they can put things away and organise things properly. Quite often, the cause of clutter and mess is simply that people don’t have enough space to store their stuff!
Another good way to keep work areas tidy and reduce cleaning time is to provide sufficient break areas. If there aren’t enough break rooms, people will eat lunch at or around their desks more often. Eating at desks leaves food crumbs and rubbish, which can make for an unpleasant and unhealthy working environment.
Be sure to clear out old office supplies that can collect in cupboards and drawers, especially old stationery. Gather and organise all of the pens, highlighters, post-it notes, and markers. You’ll probably find plenty of old broken ones, which can be thrown out.
Have a routine
Having a cleaning checklist or routine helps to be a lot more efficient with your tasks. Doing the same jobs in the same order creates a habit, which is committed to your memory, making it easier and faster to do!
Organise your cleaning routine to avoid busy times, so that people aren’t in your way when you’re trying to get things done. Always clean from top to bottom because dust and dirt falls down as you clean. If you clean the floor and then the ceiling fans – you’ll just end up with a dirty floor again! So take care of all ceilings, high shelves and furniture first and leave vacuuming and mopping for last.
Stay well-stocked and organised
When the cleaning mood strikes, you want to make sure you have all the supplies and products on hand and ready to go! Do a regular stocktake of cleaning tools and supplies and top them up when you get low. Keep your cleaning supply closets well organised so you can easily see what you do and don’t need more of. You’ll also be able to quickly locate your supplies and not have to waste time searching for everything, which will help in your speed cleaning goals.
If you have sufficient storage space, it can be good idea to have a pre-stocked cleaning trolley ready to wheel out whenever you need it. Having supplies readily on hand also means staff are better able to keep on top of their own mess.
Use microfibre cloths
Microfibre cloths are very efficient for cleaning. The fibres are designed to attract and hold dirt and debris. They reduce drying time as they rely less on water. They also reduce reliance on toxic heavy-duty cleaning products, which is a bonus!
Microfibre cloth systems use different coloured cloths for different areas, such as bathrooms and kitchens. This reduces the risk of cross contamination, and also makes it easy to find which cloths you need for which areas.
Everyone has responsibility
Encourage regular cleans of personal workspaces and run awareness campaigns about the importance of picking up after yourself and keeping things tidy. Put up posters as reminders to put away dishes, clear our fridges, and put away rubbish and recycling. This can help keep tidiness and cleanliness at the front of everyone’s minds and hopefully reduce the amount of mess to deal with at cleaning time.
Reduce paper
Modernising your workplace and moving to digital solutions reduces the traditional heavy reliance on paper files and products. This prevents clutter and mess from accumulating so quickly in offices, making the mess easier to manage and speed cleaning possible. It will also free up storage and filing space for other uses.
Let Crewcare handle it!
One of the best ways to ensure timely and efficient cleaning is to call in the experts. Crewcare is a trusted commercial cleaning provider in New Zealand. We have highly trained and security vetted staff, and we use our revolutionary Carenote customer service system to make sure our clients are always taken care of.