No one should be surprised to hear that cleanliness is absolutely critical to a person’s physical health and mental well-being. Keeping our bodies and our surroundings clean keeps allergens and toxins at bay, protects us from dangerous microbes, and makes us feel better about ourselves.
No matter how large your company is, at the end of the day it’s still made of people. Because of this, having your offices thoroughly cleaned by a trusted workspace and corporate cleaning service can be hugely beneficial to your business.
But wait, how do efficient office cleaning practices make a company better at what it does? What does a professional corporate cleaning service offer, exactly? Is there a quality referral agency that can keep your office in tiptop shape? Read on to learn more.
Why is cleaning important in an office?
Keeping your entire workplace pristine is possibly even more important than keeping your home clean. After all, your house likely contains rooms that you rarely use, and that therefore don’t need to be cleaned to a professional standard at all times.
When it comes to your company, however, chances are every area is either used by you, or by at least one of your employees, on a daily basis. What’s more, a spotless workplace brings tangible advantages that any manager or business owner can benefit from.
The benefits of having a sparkling clean workplace include:
- First impressions. Leaving a bad first impression on potential employees and clients is an excellent way to shoot your own business in the foot. Needless to say, having a dusty, cluttered office will make everyone who enters it think that you either aren’t doing very well financially, or that you don’t care about your employees’ health.
- Happy employees work harder and are less likely to look for another job or to ask for a raise. While you can’t decide how another individual feels, making them spend 8 hours a day in a dirty, unhygienic office is going to take a heavy toll on their morale.
- Health concerns. Even workplaces without many employees tend to see a lot of traffic during the day. This means dirt and dust is constantly being brought in and spread around. Without regular cleanings, your office will quickly become a hotbed for toxins, allergens, mold, parasites, and bacteria. Not only are unsanitary working conditions punishable by law, you may also end up being sued by your employees.
- Equipment longevity. All office computers contain fans that cool them by constantly drawing in and pushing out air. Unfortunately, this also causes them to collect a lot of dust. The dust buildup will eventually affect their performance, and may even cause internal components to overheat. Keeping a computer in a clean environment will prevent this.
- It makes your life easier. Do you really want to risk being sued by your employees, or losing crucial investors because they’re discouraged by the appearance of your premises? Clean and healthy working conditions are considered par for the course in the 21st century, and all you have to do to get them is to get in touch with a reputable referral agency.
- It’s required. OSHA’s sanitation rules obligate employers to keep workplaces clean, orderly, and sanitary, and free of hazards like mold. Hygiene isn’t a perk you offer; it’s a floor you owe.
The touch points germs love
Illness rarely spreads through the air alone. It spreads through the dozen things everyone touches before lunch:
- Door handles and push plates
- Elevator buttons and stair rails
- The fridge handle, the coffee machine, the water cooler lever
- Conference room tables and the phone in the middle of them
- Shared keyboards, mice, and copier screens
- Restroom faucets and dispensers
Wipe these daily with a disinfectant during cold and flu season, and at least a few times a week the rest of the year. It’s a 15-minute job that does more for attendance than a wellness webinar.
What does good workplace hygiene include?
Good hygiene runs on two tracks. One belongs to the people, one belongs to the building, and each falls apart without the other.
The people side
Soap and paper that never run out, hand sanitizer at entrances and in meeting rooms, a sick-day culture where staying home is treated as considerate rather than weak, and food kept to the kitchen or eaten over a plate.
The building side
A written cleaning schedule with an owner, daily attention to restrooms and the kitchen, weekly floors and desks, and disinfecting of the touch points below. For the full breakdown of who does what and when, we’ve covered how to keep an office clean and what a commercial cleaning includes separately.
Put it in writing
Hygiene by vibes lasts a month. A one-page policy lasts:
- A cleaning schedule with names attached, posted in the kitchen
- Sick-day expectations that don’t punish people for using them
- Fridge and food rules, enforced on a calendar rather than by mood
- A restock threshold for soap, paper, wipes, and sanitizer (reorder at one spare, not at zero)
- A named contact for reporting messes, so problems get fixed instead of discussed
Ready to make hygiene someone else’s job?
You now have the case for a healthy office; making it happen every week is the part worth outsourcing. MaidThis connects businesses with screened, vetted cleaners in more than 40 US cities, from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh to Miami.
Set up a recurring schedule, put the restrooms and touch points in professional hands, and enjoy walking past a kitchen that doesn’t need an intervention. Find your city or get in touch.
