Five tips for keeping your office clean to boost productivity
Whether you’re working from home or commuting to the office, it is important to keep your working space clean at all times. Not only will this promote a more healthy lifestyle, a clean and tidy office can also drastically aid productivity.
From cutting down on sick days, to reducing search times for missing items, keeping your desk as clean as possible will benefit both you and your company.
We get it, you’ve likely got enough on your plate at work to have to worry about additional cleaning tasks. But, before neglecting your office cleanliness, consider the following tips on how to keep your workspace clean to help you become more productive.
Little and often
Like with all cleaning tasks, one of the easiest ways to keep on top of your workload is to do little and often to reduce the build up of germs, and ensure it doesn’t get overwhelming. Leaving your cleaning to-do list to multiply over a period of time can result in you needing to set aside more time to eventually tick everything off, inhibiting your ability to work productively at all times.
Daily tasks could include sweeping the floor or tidying your desk. The little and often rule is also applicable to any dirty dishes or cups that may have found a new home in your workspace. Neglecting any dirty dishes is an easy way for germs and bacteria to build up in your workspace, and can lead to illnesses and potentially time being taken off sick.
Declutter
After spending hours on end working at your desk, whatever your job description, there will be a build up of unwanted clutter. Whether that’s documents, stationary, or things you’ve stuffed away in the draw, a cluttered workspace can seriously inhibit your ability to be productive. At the simplest level, a cluttered desk would likely increase search times for notes or stationary, immediately making us less productive.
Studies conducted at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute have found direct links between productivity levels and a clean working environment. Not only does a decluttered workspace help us to focus more and process information better, it can also help to reduce levels of stress and anxiety which can affect our ability to work at an optimal level.
Keep the floors clean
Cleaning the floors is one of the tasks more likely to be overlooked, or kicked under the carpet, as it were. In any office, floors are going to get dirty. Be it footfall, paperclips or dust, it is easy for dirt to build up underneath your desk and chair.
Keeping the floors clean doesn’t necessarily mean undertaking a deep clean of all the floors and carpets in the office. Something as simple as sweeping up at the end of the day can reduce the build up of dirt and rubbish before it becomes a much more onerous task.
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Hire a professional
If you feel like you don’t have enough time to commit to these regular cleaning responsibilities, consider employing the services of a professional. Whilst none of the aforementioned tasks should be too arduous, they can certainly be time-consuming. A professional cleaning service could free up this time which ultimately allows for increased productivity at work.
Different cleaning companies will offer different services, but the typical responsibilities a commercial cleaning service would take on include: vacuuming, dusting desks, mopping the floor and emptying the bins. Depending on the contract and how frequently you require the office to be cleaned, these tasks can be carried out on a daily or weekly basis.
Generally, commercial cleaning services charge an hourly rate. This can range from as little as $15 per hour to $50, depending on the company and the extent of the cleaning required.
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No eating
We have all been guilty of it at some point. On those particularly busy days, it can be tempting to work through lunch and eat at your desk. However, regularly eating where you work can lead to a whole host of problems which, if ignored, can majorly reduce your productivity levels.
Crumbs and food waste can attract unwanted pests to the office, which bring with them their own health risks to humans. Often, crumbs can get into the keyboard and other areas which are difficult to clean, and harder to notice when they’re dirty.
New research has revealed that the average desk harbours 400 times more germs than a toilet seat. Not only does this make your desk an unsafe space to eat, but consuming your lunch in your workspace will only accelerate the growth of germs and harmful bacteria.
