Cleaning an office is not like cleaning a bedroom. It simply can’t all be done in one day. If you want your office to look clean and tidy while also remaining safe for all the people who work there and frequent it, there are things that you need to do on a consistent, ongoing basis. That’s why 360clean is here to help! Read on to learn more about how to create an office cleaning schedule. Or, if you’re tired of taking on the task of cleaning the entire office on your own, contact our team at 360clean for a free quote. We can’t wait to help you create a cleaner and safer workplace!
How to Get Started
Keeping a clean office not only creates an environment that looks pretty and smells good. It also helps to boost worker productivity and loyalty, which results in your business performing better in the long run.
If you want to ensure that employee morale stays high, you need to maintain an office environment where workers feel safe and comfortable. The simplest way to do that is to ensure it remains clean. To get started, you need to create an office cleaning schedule that works for you. Think about cleaning tasks in categories of daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly responsibilities. Not sure where to begin? Grab your notebook and coffee and let the ideas guide you!
Daily Cleaning Tasks
Some things need to be handled daily by either your staff or commercial cleaning crew. These include some of the areas that are frequented by the most people, which are also the areas that present the biggest opportunity for people to get sick. Here are a few things to put on your daily checklist:
1. Employee Breakrooms and Kitchens
Every day, the following items should be completed on your office cleaning schedule:
- Empty garbage bins and replace liners inside to prevent unwanted pests and odors
- Wipe and disinfect sinks, counters, chairs, and tables
- Wipe and disinfect the exterior of coffee makers, microwaves, and other appliances
- Refill paper towels, hand soap, and dish soap
- Wipe and mop floors
2. Waiting Rooms and Reception Areas
Waiting rooms and reception areas are where many folks congregate. As such, they not only need to stay clean but also presentable. After all, these places serve as the first impression of your company once someone enters from the outside. Use the following daily cleaning checklist for waiting rooms, reception areas, conference rooms, or other areas where people congregate often.
- Empty garbage bins and replace liners to prevent unwanted odors and pests
- Wipe and vacuum upholstery
- Dust all furniture and equipment
- Dust baseboards, window sills, and ceiling corners
- Wipe and disinfect all surfaces and high-touch areas such as chair arms
- Clean and wipe windows
- Wipe and disinfected door knobs
- Wipe and disinfect elevator buttons
- Vacuum, mop, and disinfect hard floors
3. Bathrooms
All bathrooms, whether they are employee-only or used by the public, need to receive cleaning attention daily. These rooms have the highest likelihood of germs and bacteria spreading, so they must be cleaned and disinfected every day, without question. Items on the cleaning checklist for bathrooms include:
- Disinfect all urinals and toilets
- Disinfect all other surfaces including sinks, countertops, handles to stalls and doors, accessories where towels are held, or the hand dryer itself
- Wipe and disinfect all mirrors and other glass, including windows if there are any
- Mop all flooring and disinfect it as well
Weekly Cleaning Tasks
The daily cleaning tasks cover the things that are the most important to keep the office environment clean, tidy, and safe. However, on a weekly basis, other items should make it onto your office cleaning checklist, too. Many of these items would fall into either “deep cleaning” or “bigger ticket” items. They aren’t any less important than the daily cleaning tasks, as they help to create an overall healthier environment for your workers and guests alike. Some of these tasks include:
- Buff and polish wood surfaces. This includes not only floors but common surfaces that people touch, like conference tables.
- Squeegee the windows. At the very least, the inside of all windows should receive this treatment weekly. If it’s possible to do the exterior of the windows, too, that’s great. The high-priority windows for exterior cleaning would be any ground-level windows and/or display windows that face the street.
- Empty the refrigerator. All food should be emptied from the refrigerator and freezer once per week, otherwise, it can quickly become smelly and unsanitary. Once emptied, wipe and disinfect the inside of the refrigerator.
- Deep clean appliances. All other kitchen appliances need to be deep cleaned weekly as well. This includes coffee pots/makers, microwaves, toasters, etc. They need to be wiped and disinfected inside and out, where appropriate.
- Disinfect desks. All desk areas should be disinfected. This includes wiping the surfaces and high-touch items such as the mouse, keyboard, and phone on every person’s desk.
- Scrub the sinks! Sinks in the kitchen should be scrubbed and disinfected to avoid accumulating mold.
Monthly Cleaning Tasks
Beyond the daily and weekly cleaning tasks, some other items ought to be on your monthly cleaning checklist. These items are even bigger than the weekly cleaning tasks, and although they are done less frequently, they are equally as important. In fact, the monthly cleaning tasks are what help to keep the office in an organized and clean fashion. Your commercial cleaning company may even handle these tasks over the weekend since they take longer than the other items on this checklist. Among the monthly cleaning tasks are:
- Extra vacuuming. While you may vacuum the floors quite regularly, both the vents and office furniture need to be vacuumed monthly. Vacuuming these areas helps ensure that the air quality remains high in the office. However, during the winter, this may be something you consider doing weekly. All furniture that’s upholstered should be vacuumed monthly, as well.
- Dust and disinfect everything. Every month, your commercial cleaning company should dust and disinfect everything in the office. This includes any places that are hard for them to reach such as the tops of cabinets and windows as well as other places that are covered. After the monthly cleaning is complete, nothing should go untouched in this regard.
- All hardwood surfaces including floors and wooden furniture should be polished. This helps keep the office looking new all year round.
- Declutter and organize. While your commercial cleaning crew shouldn’t go into desk drawers, they should help to declutter and organize the main parts of the office. This includes closets and floor areas, making sure there are no boxes, paper, or other debris in the way. You should ask your employees to declutter and organize their workspaces and file cabinets monthly, too.
- Shampoo carpets. Shampooing the carpets is something that you could do monthly, or you could leave it to a quarterly task. This is a personal choice, and it should be dependent on whether the areas are high traffic and whether they get extra dirty. This may be a task that you consider doing every month during the winter months and quarterly during the summer, as winter often brings with it more dirt and grime into the building.
Quarterly Cleaning Tasks
Finally, some bigger-ticket items need to be handled every quarter. Think of these items as your seasonal cleaning checklists. They include:
- Change your air filters. The air filters in your HVAC units should be changed at least every 90 days depending on the type of filter you use. You might consider using a more high-powered filter during the winter months, as well.
- Clean the ducts. Depending on where you work, you might want to have the ducts cleaned in your office on a quarterly, bi-annual, or annual basis.
- Shampoo the carpets. If you don’t have the carpets shampooed monthly, then you should at least have this done quarterly.
- Clean the exterior windows. Cleaning the windows is especially important during the winter, and you may consider doing it monthly to allow sunlight in that helps warm the building.
- Seasonal decorations. Your commercial cleaning crew can help you take down decorations from the last season and prepare for the season ahead. This will help create a warm and festive atmosphere at the office all year round.
Work with a Trusted Commercial Cleaning Company on Your Office Checklist
Creating an office cleaning checklist for daily, weekly, monthly and even quarterly tasks is a great first step in ensuring you maintain a healthy, clean, and happy workplace. And finding an experienced commercial cleaning company you can trust is just as important.
At 360clean, we have been providing and maintaining clean, healthy, and happy offices for countless companies for many years, and we’d love to help your business, too. If you’re thinking of upping your cleaning game, contact us today for a free quote! We can’t wait to help you get started on your office cleaning checklist.