Winter is one of the most challenging times when it comes to keeping an office clean. Fortunately, having a winter office cleaning checklist can help! To make sure that your office stays tidy and healthy for the colder months ahead, follow the checklist below. Or, if you need extra help fighting the winter doldrums this year, contact our team at 360clean for a free quote! Although we may not be able to return the warmth of summer, we guarantee that keeping a clean office will make a brighter holiday season for everyone. Contact us today.
Your Complete Winter Office Cleaning Checklist
In addition to the normal day-to-day dirt and grime that can accumulate in an office, there are extra germs and viruses to fight off from sick employees, extra moisture, and dirt being dragged in. That’s why 360clean is here to help! Here’s your complete cleaning checklist for the holiday season ahead.
1. Disinfect Daily
Disinfecting common areas is extremely important throughout the entire year, but it becomes even more important during flu season and the winter months. Germs circulate more during this time of year, especially as people spend more time indoors.
As such, your commercial cleaning company should be disinfecting all the common areas of your office daily. The breakrooms, lunchrooms, and bathrooms are the top priorities here, as they are the places where groups of people congregate the most and have the highest likelihood of germs spreading.
All surfaces in these rooms should be cleaned with a disinfectant daily, as should the handles of all doors, including refrigerator handles, microwave handles, and all doors leading into and out of rooms. Other common areas should also receive attention. This includes lobbies, conference rooms, and other meeting rooms. Make sure that all surfaces are cleaned daily with a disinfectant to stop the spread of germs. Especially if you plan on using these areas for holiday gatherings!
2. Clean the Floors
Wet, wintry weather is a major cause of concern in terms of the cleanliness of floors. When this weather happens, people drag in mud, dirt, and salt–all of which can get stuck on floors and in between carpet fibers. In addition to making the floors downright dirty, it can make them dangerous, too.
That’s why every day, your commercial cleaning crew should be sweeping and vacuuming all floors. If specific areas need to be mopped every day, then that should be done on an as-needed basis. At the very least, though, mopping the floors should become a weekly occurrence during the winter.
Remember, your cleaning crew should be using different products when they mop hard floors in the winter vs the warmer months of the year—as salt must also be removed from floors during this time. For taking care of your office between commercial cleaning visits, a simple solution of warm water and vinegar helps in this regard.
3. Clean the Air
As most of the world learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, air quality is essential in protecting against the spread of viruses and other germs. Even after COVID-19 cases have dwindled, there are still plenty of germs that circulate in the air, just as the flu virus did for many years before this pandemic.
Wiping and disinfecting surfaces is just one part of preventing the spread of viruses. You also need to ensure the air is cleaned as well. One of the easiest ways to do this is to clean all grates and vents and ensure that air filters are changed regularly. You may also consider an air filtration system or air filter systems that you can set up around the office for the winter months–when viruses seem to be the worst.
This is a time when you may want to have a consultation with your HVAC company, too. If your commercial cleaning company doesn’t handle these tasks mentioned above, discuss the ventilation in your building and the performance of your systems with an HVAC professional. You may decide to switch to higher-quality filters in the winter, for example, to help clean the air even more.
4. Disinfect People’s Workspaces
Employee workstations are high-touch areas. If one person comes into the office sick and touches everything on their desk, it’s very easy for them to spread it to other people around them. This is especially true in workplaces where desks are shared. For example, some places such as call centers have different folks using the same desk on either a morning or night schedule.
Your commercial cleaning company can help with this in two ways. With your permission, some cleaning companies may wipe and disinfect the surfaces of every employee’s desk and/or work-station at least once a week. However, many cleaning companies do not touch employee desks for liability reasons. Another option is to provide all your employees with hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes–making them responsible for cleaning and sanitizing their desks.
Disinfectant wipes can also be placed in a general area where they can easily be obtained. Encourage your employees to use these disinfectant wipes often on their keyboards, mouse, and phones to help stop the spread of any viruses they may be carrying.
5. Extra Care for Windows
The winter weather does a number on windows. From snow and ice to grime and dirt, windows can get real dirty real fast during the winter.
Not only do dirty windows make for an office that doesn’t look good, but they also contribute to making it more difficult for the building to allow heat in. If dirt is blocking the sunlight, after all, there won’t be any heat source coming in from the outside.
That’s why it’s important to pay extra attention to the cleanliness of windows during the winter. While it’s simply not possible to clean the exterior of windows every day–and maybe not even every week–keeping the insides clean will go a long way.
Do your best to keep any windows that are ground level and/or facing the street clean as often as possible, as it contributes to the aesthetics of your office building, too. This may take extra work during the winter months, of course, but it’s well worth the time and effort.
6. Dust, Dust, and Dust Some More
During the winter, it’s natural for windows to remain closed. While you may not think this contributes to the office being dirty, it does in many ways.
When windows are closed, it’s easier for dirt, dust, and any other microorganisms to remain indoors and circulate throughout the building. That’s why you’ll often see that baseboards, window sills, and other areas with grooves have a level of grime that they don’t have at other times during the year.
Because of this, one of the big things on your winter office cleaning checklist must be a daily dose of dusting. A simple dusting of all major surfaces, as well as window sills, ledges, baseboards, and doors, will help not only to keep the office looking cleaner, but it’ll create a healthier environment, too.
These microparticles can easily get into the air and then into people’s lungs, causing them to cough and sneeze. This then sets off a chain reaction, as germs are more easily spread when people cough or sneeze. Make sure that dusting is a regular part of the daily cleaning duties of your commercial cleaning crew.
7. Pay Extra Attention to Your Entryway
Although many workplaces have discontinued the requirement for employees to wear masks indoors, you will still find that some employees feel more comfortable when they have masks available. We recommend keeping a disposable box at the entryway of your workplace for both guests and employees. Keeping a bottle of hand sanitizer at the entryway can help everyone feel a little safer and more comfortable for the colder months ahead.
Additionally, it doesn’t hurt to have a small and lightweight vacuum cleaner near the entryway during the winter. This helps collect any dirt and debris that are dragged in. You’ll find that you will need to vacuum much more often during this time of year, but it’s worth it to know that the cleanliness makes everyone feel better.
Get Through the Doldrums of Winter with 360clean
Winter brings with it a set of cleaning challenges that the other three seasons don’t. Some things come into your office during the winter that just aren’t present at other times of the year. While it’s never not important to keep your office clean and disinfected, it’s even more important in the winter months.
At 360clean, we have been providing top-of-the-line commercial cleaning services for office buildings for years. We provide extensive cleaning services throughout the year, and we customize cleaning plans for the harsh winter months ahead! If you’re ready to start planning for the holiday season ahead, contact us today for a free quote. We can’t wait to help you create a cleaner and healthier workplace.