Unbelievably, that’s another year done. As we type and publish this, it’s 2021: another year of Zoom and Teams, takeaways, and facemasks. After summer brought some of us back together, the days got shorter and colder – and new variants of COVID emerged. Now, as we pass the longest nights of winter, we all seem to be taking one step forwards, two steps back.
But one thing’s for sure: we will be back – back to work, back to socialising, and back into some sense of normality. It’s just a case of when. Let’s keep hopeful, and look forward to hanging those new calendars up, dusting off the cobwebs of the year gone by, and welcoming in the lengthening days.
Most of us will probably write some New Year’s resolutions – with the best intentions of sticking to them. But what about sharing some resolutions around the office this year? Give everyone some accountability and a common goal, and the hope that soon, we can all be together at work again.
Keeping your office clean and tidy is a team effort, even if you use professional office cleaning services to do the bulk of the work. The best tip for success? Keep it simple. Teams are busy enough as it is.
Here are some simple ideas for keeping the office shipshape as a team – with minimal fuss!
Make some essential office purchases
Instead of dreading the pre-meeting office tidy up, keep it all in check, all the time! If things look a little chaotic in your office right now, you can restore order quickly with some simple essentials for the New Year ahead.
Read more – How to Tidy Employee Workspaces (Marie Kondo-style)
Desk tidies
Simple, effective storage for pens, documents and folders will turn workstations from cluttered to cultured. Encouraging a tidy desk makes office cleaning faster nad more effective, too!
Shared storage spaces
To further aid a culture of cleanliness, provide drawers, filing cabinets, cubbies and longer-term storage spaces for items that tend to sit on desks for months (or years) on end: annual reports, hard copies of manuals, office tech boxes and so on.
Coat hangers
Fed up of people hanging their coats on the backs of their chairs? Coat hangers are the answer. Make sure everyone can access them, and encourage their use.
Doormats
Keep your office carpet cleaning bill down with the simple addition of a few extra doormats. They’re much easier to clean and reduce the tracking of mud and grime, especially on wet winter days!
Antibacterial wipes
These are here to stay – but the side-benefit is that hey promote good cleanliness at everyone’s workstation, and can cut down on dusting, too.
One bin to rule them all (or maybe two)
Get rid of the personal waste paper (and often a million other things) baskets in favour of a single waste and recycling point on each office floor. For bigger, open-plan offices, you might need a couple – but reducing the number of bins declutters and deodorises your office, fast.
A promise to keep the office tidy: everyone, chip in!
Many hands make light work. Encourage everyone to maintain a clear, clean workstation. The benefits of doing so aren’t just that it looks nicer – it’s cleaner, safer and can enhance productivity.
We understand that it’s not your team’s job to clean. But tiny little things – instilled from the top down – can add up to big differences.
Clearing away empty mugs, putting rubbish in bins, wiping feet on the way into work – these aren’t big gestures; but the results of everyone doing it are noticeable. Managers, if you lead by example, we bet you’ll be surprised how much impact it can have!
Let’s take better care of the office carpet
After you deep clean an office carpet, it can look and feel as good as new. That freshness will soon disappear without proper care, though.
Of course, you can just have the office carpet cleaners come in again, but if everyone agrees to take better care of the office carpet in the New Year, maybe you won’t have to clean it as often – and you’ll all have a nicer space to do your work in.
By simply adding doormats to key areas, like entrances and hallways, you can make a significant difference. In rural offices especially, mud can become a big challenge – so add boot scrapers outside, and offer a selection of wellies for lunchtime walks.
That’ll help keep the mud out, and the joy in.
Stick to the office cleaning plan
Even with all the extra tidiness and mindfulness around the office, make sure you stick to the office cleaning schedule.
If everyone’s putting in the effort to keep things tidy, make it count with regular scheduled cleans and deep cleaning at quarterly or half-yearly intervals. Actually, the New Year is a great time to get an office deep clean – it’ll certainly start the year right!
Keep your office cleaning New Year’s resolutions on track for the whole of the year, by committing to cleanliness. And if you need the help of a professional commercial cleaning service, we’re here to help!
Start the year right: with office cleaning services in Cardiff
Keep your office sparkling from the start of the year to the end – with The Abbey Cleaning Service. For reliable office cleaning in Cardiff, call our friendly team on 029 2067 9323 today.
