Keeping a clean office is one of the many keys to success for any business, according to the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) and its study on the value of clean office space (paywall). The ISSA reports substantial productivity increases among workers in offices that are well kept in terms of isolating and removing germs and promoting clutter-free work spaces.
While hiring a professional cleaning service to handle the majority of the heavy or frequent cleaning tasks is beneficial, there are simple office cleaning tips that employees and owners can follow to keep the office clean on a regular basis.
Read on for our 5 cleaning tips to keep your office space looking and smelling its best!
5 Tips to Keep Your Office Clean
1. Remove the Clutter
One of the simplest office cleaning tips for any business is to keep clutter to a minimum. Rogue paperwork or files, a week’s worth of coffee mugs or computer cords and accessories can quickly muddle up a desk, reception area or conference room. Finding a place for each item in 
your particular work space allows for ease of access to the items you truly need, and provides for quick and easy clean up at the end of each day.
2. Focus on High-Touch Areas
Some of the most overlooked office cleaning tips have to do with the most used items in a business, including the keyboard, mouse, computer monitor and phones. To help keep the dust and germs at bay, use a compressed air canister, hair dryer (on the coolest setting) or cotton swabs to dislodge debris and built up dust in your keyboard. A soft paper towel can be used to wipe the dust and germs away. If you chose to use antibacterial wipes, make sure they are electronic-friendly, meaning they are free of alcohol or acetone.
3. Don’t Forget Community Areas
Similar to high-touch electronics, communal areas including conference tables, breakroom countertops and doorknobs are a breeding ground for passable germs. To promote joint efforts in keeping these common areas clean, keep antibacterial wipes (baby wipes can be used as an alternative) in easily accessible locations. Encourage everyone in the office to quickly wipe down the table, countertop or other surface after each use.
4. Eliminate the Smell
Office cleaning tips also come in the form of prevention, not just maintenance. Keeping odors to a minimum can be as simple as placing dryer sheets over vents or in trash receptacles in common areas as well as private offices. Removing trash after each work day, regardless of the amount, is also necessary to keep the work environment smelling and looking its best.
5. Schedule a Field Day
If you are struggling with how to keep your office clean due to lack of involvement, try scheduling a field day in the office. Once every two weeks, schedule an in-house cleaning day for all employees, and provide the items to help get the job done. To make sure employees are incentivized to clean up their own space, make the field day fun with free lunch or an afternoon dessert, or small door prizes for motivated employees. Keeping a schedule for cleaning is helpful in maintaining a healthy workplace.
While our list is not exhaustive, these office cleaning tips are a surefire way to ensure your work environment is kept tidy for you, your employees and your customers!
-Cleaning tips brought to you by Maid Perfect Commercial Cleaning.
Cleaning your office is an important thing to do, especially if you need to make a good impression. That way people coming to your office won’t be turned off by the mess. Also, it might give your employees more motivation to be productive.
Thank you for the help. We have had issues keeping our office clean, so we are actually looking to hire a commercial cleaning service. However, I like the idea of the field day that you mentioned as well. Do you think a field day would still be necessary if we hire a professional cleaning service?
Hi Justin,
Thanks for your comment!
On deciding whether or not to hold a field day, the main factors are how dirty does the office get in between cleans and does the office cleaner spend time on personal items and basic tidying.
If the office stays clean in between visits and the cleaner visits every week, you can probably schedule a field day once every six months. Many times the clutter ends up being papers and office supplies. When a cleaner is tidying up they will not throw away something that may relate to business or be important and by having a field day the employee gets to tidy those items that a cleaner wouldn’t throw away.
I’ve been looking for a maid cleaning service and I think these tips will help to keep the office clean once I have one arranged. Everyone appreciates working in a clean space and I like to keep my work space clean, so I’ll use these cleaning tips. Thanks for the helpful cleaning service post!
I always like having my personal spaces clean, that even includes my work space. I always clean the things I touch the most, like phone, keyboard, mouse anything that is touched all the time. This can help prevent sickness and the spread of disease. It’s always a good idea to wipe down places where people frequently are and touch. Great advice and tips!
Oh, the rooms where the conferences of the company building that my wife cleans sure gets messy real quick. I guess this is good news for her and her professional cleaning crew because it keeps them busy. In fact, they spend almost all their time in those rooms because of how much meetings are scheduled there.
These cleaning tips seems like they would be beneficial for any office to follow. Cleaning areas in the office that are touched the most seems like great advice. It seems like keyboards get a lot of germs, especially if employees share desks. You’re right about how phones can be a source of germs and bacteria since they’re used a lot in an office environment, so cleaning them seems particularly important. Thanks for the tips!
I notice that I work a lot better in a clean environment. I think high-touch areas are really important, especially where multiple people use the same computer, or other office equipment. I think most sicknesses spread at work and schools, so cleanliness is really important in places like this.
Thanks for your great tips!! I like your creative field day idea. Having a clean place to work along with a clean and inviting space for customers is really important!! Thanks again for the info!!