As the week goes on and our work load piles up, so does the mound of “stuff” on our desks.
It’s important to keep our offices clean and tidy for a number of reasons including a professional impression for visiting clients or customers, and our psychological approach to work. Research shows that as mess in the office increases, the workforce productivity and employees’ mental wellbeing decreases. Not only that, the recruitment agency Adecco reported over half workers surveyed judged a colleague on the tidiness of their desk. None of us want that.
Whilst a Focus Cleaning contract will take care of your office cleaning needs, it’s important that the day-to-day desk and office tidying be done by the people working there. Here are our five top tips to keeping things tip top with your office cleaning.
Cleaning Office Desks with Only Essentials at Arm’s Length
You don’t need a box of ball point pens, six coasters and a display of post-its because there isn’t going to be a deep freeze to prepare for, nor a zombie apocalypse that requires a lock down – and even if there were, what good would having one hundred pens, 5 bulk boxes of staples, and a year’s worth of paper for your printer be?
Prioritise the essentials; you should have your computer monitor and keyboard, a telephone, a couple of pens and a pencil, a notebook, your favourite coffee cup, and maybe a family photo to keep you motivated. All of the rest can stay in designated zones. Clearing our office desk means easy cleaning of our office desk. Once it’s clear, you’ll be more inclined to disinfect your desk space since you won’t be going in and around the clutter.
Fix Yourself a Filing System
It may be that everything is moving online but that’s not to say that things aren’t printed, posted and delivered to yours and your colleagues’ desks during the hours of a working day. To stop you from being buried beneath the paperwork think about creating a filing system to assist office cleaning. You could even add a little colour, not only to brighten your day, but to keep you from getting things mixed up. Forbes suggests hanging files or baskets labelled To Read, To Do, To File. Not only will it help to keep your office desk space clean, but will also make time management much easier.
Sharing is Caring – Caring for Shared Spaces
If you have a shared kitchen space, bear in mind that Cinderella won’t come in the night to sweep away your mugs and cutlery with her band of birds and mice. You certainly don’t want to tempt furry things and creepy crawlies by neglecting hygiene and general office kitchen cleaning. Be respectful of shared areas. Good kitchen hygiene is an important part of office cleaning – watching a mess grow won’t make it go away!
Digital De-cluttering
Laura Stack, president of time management consulting firm The Productivity Pro. suggests that digital mess can be as debilitating to a working mind-set as physical mess. Just as a filing system for your papers helps clean your workspace, so can a filing system on your computer clear up your desktop screen, thereby enhancing positivity and productivity. Think about doing the same thing to your email. Making separate folders for your inbox will aid in planning your day around their contents.
Hanging Up Your Handbags and Glad Rags (Coats and Umbrellas)
As is necessary living in the UK, we must defend ourselves daily from the elements. We arrive to the office in coats, scarfs, hats, jackets and cardigans, with backpacks and umbrellas, that when left over the backs of chairs and stuffed under desks can quickly become a “floor-drobe” scenario. The appearance is more of a teenager’s bedroom that than of a professional, clean, and proactive office. By simply adding some hooks and umbrella stands to the office, we can create an atmosphere less familiar with avoiding homework and more applicable to a fully functioning and efficient working environment.
We hope these handy tips will help you keep on top of your office cleaning and keep your mind tidy during the working hours. If you’re looking for a team of trained professionals to come in and take care of the rest of your office cleaning, then here at Focus Cleaning we can promise a thorough and non-disruptive service that is tailored to your office cleaning requirements. Get in touch for your no obligation quotation.
