5 Ways To Encourage Employees To Keep Your Office Clean And Tidy
A clean, tidy, and uncluttered office is more than just visually appealing. It helps keep your team motivated and creates a positive working environment. Cleanliness is linked to positive mental health and higher productivity, and it reduces potential trip hazards and health risks (like those from moldy fridge debris).
As a business owner or office manager, you might feel like maintaining office hygiene and cleanliness falls solely on your shoulders. Or perhaps you’ve started to hear complaints from hired cleaners about the increasing difficulty of managing the workspace or kitchenette.
So, how can you encourage employees to take an active role in maintaining a clean office? Follow these simple tips and see a real difference.
1. Keep It Simple
Clutter on desks and around the office creates barriers to keeping the space clean. Whether it’s a colleague’s collection of stress balls and Lego figurines or your manager’s reluctance to rehome unused beanbag chairs, clutter makes cleaning harder.
Encourage employees to limit personal items to walls or pinboards, rather than surfaces that need frequent wiping or dusting. A small number of personal items can make an office feel more homely, but reducing overall clutter makes cleaning more efficient. It also makes it more obvious when something is out of place – a pile of paper stands out more on an empty desk than one covered in notebooks and highlighters. Implementing a low or no paper policy can help with this.
2. Keep Expectations Clear and Visible
While it might be clear to you that your team should tidy their desks every Friday afternoon or empty the dishwasher after a run, your colleagues can easily forget in the rush of everyday tasks.
Display these expectations clearly in the office. This could be a large page of cleaning commandments or small signs in relevant places – by the bins, by the coffee machine, etc.
Be transparent about how these tasks fit into the daily routine. If your team tracks and accounts for their time, ensure they have time allocated for cleaning tasks. If the team on the dishwasher rota is expected to empty it during lunchtime or after work, make that clear too.
3. Lead by Example
One of the most effective ways to encourage employees to maintain a clean office is to display the behaviors you want to see. If you let dirty mugs pile up or ignore office maintenance, employees will view cleaning rules as flexible guidelines, and standards will slip.
By embracing your role as a model and consistently following the rules, you can foster a culture of consistency in maintaining a clean workspace.
4. Effective Motivation
Consider what might motivate your team to clean their office space. Motivation can vary greatly depending on your company culture and the individuals in your business. Here are some suggestions:
– Shout out individuals who take the time to clean the kitchen in your morning meetings or via email.
– Offer treats (takeaways, extra-long lunches, drinks on Friday, etc.) to the team with the tidiest workspace during spot checks.
– Provide a company-wide incentive if everyone successfully follows a cleaning rota for a whole quarter.
5. Scheduled Deep Cleans
Scheduling whole-office deep cleaning sessions can be effective. These sessions address tasks that build up over time and can’t be managed through daily tidying.
Dedicate an hour or two for everyone to thoroughly clean their space, splitting more intensive tasks like cleaning the fridge or wiping out the bins between teams. Make it enjoyable with music and (mess-free) snacks, as long as everything gets done.
Here are some tasks for deep cleaning sessions:
– Emptying and wiping the fridge
– Emptying and cleaning the coffee machine
– Emptying and disinfecting office bins
– Wiping down the microwave
– De-lime scaling the kettle
– Completely clearing every desk of loose objects or papers
– Cleaning office chairs
– Hoovering crumbs and dust off computer keyboards
– Dusting blinds and shelving space
– Disinfecting tiled or laminate floors
– Thoroughly cleaning carpets
Prefer the Professional Touch?
Another option for deep cleans is hiring a professional cleaning company. This ensures no spot goes unturned and helps your workspace start with a completely clean slate each month, encouraging your team to maintain better standards between thorough cleans.
If you need some help with which products to use in which areas, contact us and we’ll point you in the right direction…
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