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For the best results during your office spring clean, be sure to follow our office spring cleaning checklist

For most, spring has become synonymous with cleaning. Spring cleaning is now a yearly ritual in our homes that gives us the time and space to declutter and tidy everything that has fallen into disarray over the past few months. But what about your office?

Your workspace is just as important to keep clean and tidy as your home. In fact, studies have found that keeping a clean work environment can have an impact on employees’morale, productivity, and mood reducing both tiredness and procrastination. However, in most offices, carrying out a thorough spring clean amidst looming deadlines, meetings, presentations, and more meetings, is not a top priority.

But not to worry, there are ways to simplify the process and make spring cleaning your office free of hassle. Here are some simple steps you can take to make spring cleaning your office easy.

1. Clean your desk

The best approach to cleaning rooms in your office is to start at the top and work your way down. Therefore, begin with your desk. This primary workstation is where you spend most of your time and can become crowded easily, piling up with papers, stationery, and electronics.

This means it also can be a hotspot for germs, dust, and general unpleasantness. Therefore, decluttering and cleaning your desk is highly likely to benefit your mental and physical wellbeing.

Make sure to also re-organise your desk drawers. Be ruthless, get rid of anything you do not need, and make sure that you have a proper filing system for everything that you do. Once your desk space is clear and organised, you can clean it by wiping the surface down with a clean, damp microfiber rag, and replacing items one by one.

As you put the desk back together, think carefully about what needs to be kept close at hand and what can be stored or filed. Items you use frequently should maintain their space on the desktop, while other, lesser-used items can be stored or filed away. When disposing of paper materials, the best course of action is to be sure to shred sensitive documents and recycle the scraps.

2. Clean monitor and computer equipment

Especially if you spend all day at your desk – including your lunch break – your keyboard and other computer equipment are probably not the cleanest. To clean your computer equipment thoroughly:

Disconnect your keyboard from your computer or monitor. If you are using a laptop, then make sure it is turned off before you start.
Flip your keyboard or laptop upside down to get any initial crumbs, hair, and other debris out of the hard to reach areas.
Use the duster appliance on your vacuum cleaner or a can of compressed air to get rid of any remaining debris that is still lingering in between the keys.
Take an antibacterial wipe, cotton bud, or a piece of kitchen roll and dip it into some antiseptic disinfectant (which you can purchase at most supermarkets) and rub it between and along the keys of your keyboard. Make sure to use a light touch, as getting your electronics too damp is dangerous.
Use a microfiber cloth to clean up the remaining disinfectant and polish the keys.

Taking the computer clean-up one step further, you may also want to tidy your files on yourdevice, by decluttering your desktop and getting rid of old and unnecessary files. For extra security, it is also a good idea to back up your files to either cloud or external hard drive and change your passwords on important applications and devices.  

3. Clean kitchens, break rooms and bathrooms

Perhaps even more so than any other office space, kitchens, break rooms, and bathrooms must be kept in a clean and sanitary state. Particularly in communal buildings like offices, these spaces can be especially prone to the spread of harmful bacteria. So, be sure to clean equipment within them such as microwaves, coffee machines, kettles and fridges thoroughly, and wipe down any surfaces and appliances like sinks with a strong antibacterial cleaner. For a proper spring clean, you can also sort through cupboards and drawers in kitchens and break rooms and dispose of old or expired food and drinks, replacing the essentials.

4. Clean your floors

Cleaning both your carpet and hardwood floors can be difficult without the proper equipment but can go a long way toward making your office look and feel fresh. Luckily, we have written a whole blog post on the best way to clean different types of flooring in your office.

And if all of this feels like too much work to juggle alongside your regular workload, do not hesitate to get in touch with us by finding your nearest ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services business. With the proper tools for thorough office cleaning and over 60 years of experience as an industry leader in the commercial cleaning sector, ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services can provide your office with the care it deserves, at a time that suits you.

Call 0845 201 1184 to learn more or request a quote today.

 

Written by Tom Page, Digital Content Writer

At work, you may be exposed to a number of germs, especially when flu season rolls around and keeping your offices clean during flu season is important for you and your staff. Sick coworkers likely touch a variety of surfaces on their way in and out of the office, including shared spaces like the kitchen, bathrooms and conference rooms. Their germs can linger on tables, office equipment, door handles and other surfaces for significant periods of time, putting you and other staff members at risk of getting sick.

Plus with COVID-19 still about, if any symptoms occur, ensure you test yourself with a lateral flow test or a PCR test.

Luckily, there are some things you can do to help prevent getting sick with the flu or spreading germs, find out three cold and flu prevention tips from the professionals at ServiceMaster Clean.

Washing your hands

Washing your hands regularly is one of the best ways to prevent getting sick year-round. In the winter months when viruses can remain active longer due to colder temperatures, proper handwashing becomes more important. Use these tips to wash your hands correctly:

  • Wash your hands regularly throughout the day with warm water and soap for minimum 20 seconds each time
  • Dry your hands thoroughly with disposable towels
  • Always wash your hands after using the bathroom, as these spaces are havens for germs
  • Wash your hands after coming into contact with any bodily fluid, this includes your own.
  • Use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser when soap and water are not available. Keep an alcohol-based hand sanitiser with you at your desk or in your personal bag or purse.

Cough Etiquette

Coughing is something we all do, and you don’t have to be noticeably sick to cough here and there throughout the day, but using proper techniques when you cough can help alleviate the spread of germs. Teach your staff members these tips to help remind them to cover their cough at work:

  • Cover your mouth with a tissue when you’re coughing, if possible.
  • Dispose of tissues immediately in a nearby wastebasket.
  • Cover your mouth with your hands or cough into the crook of your arm when you don’t have access to tissue.
  • Wash your hands with soap and water immediately after coughing.

Keeping Your Offices Clean During Flu Season

A clean workspace can help keep germs to a minimum and potentially even increase worker productivity, especially if frequently touched items and surfaces like keyboards, doorknobs and phones are disinfected regularly. Help reduce the number of germs in your office throughout the day by enforcing these cleaning steps:

  • Clean and disinfect daily by wiping down high-touch surfaces with disinfectant wipes or low-level disinfectant products to help kill germs in shared spaces as well as your own work area
  • Stock up on supplies, by making sure your office has an adequate amount of tissues, paper towels, soap, hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes to keep the office clean every day.
  • Allow sick employees to go home. If an employee starts feeling sick at work, let them go home before they have an opportunity to infect the staff around them.

Keep in mind that if your employees show cold or flu symptoms throughout the year, including fever, muscle aches, fatigue and bouts of coughing, ask them if they begin feeling better when they spend time away from the office.

Along with having your staff take an active role in cleaning throughout the day, a janitorial crew can help reduce the number of germs and infections lurking in your office. If you need help keeping cold and flu symptoms to a minimum while you’re at work, call on the experts at ServiceMaster Clean. Our commercial janitorial services can help keep your office clean and healthy. We’ll even work with you to create a detailed, comprehensive cleaning regimen that meets your facility’s unique needs and schedule. Contact us today to find out how we can help your business.

 

Find your nearest ServiceMaster Clean business here.

Good handwashing practice is one of the most important steps we can take to combat the spread of germs to others within the workplace. 

Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands properly with soap and clean running water.

Germs on unwashed hands can be transferred to other areas within the workplace, like door handles, handrails, table tops, phones or laptops and transmitted your colleagues. This can lead to sickness as they will regularly touch their nose, eyes or mouth without knowing it.

Bacteria and germs are also spread through food and drink and some germs will multiply in certain foods.

Removing germs through good handwashing can help prevent stomach bugs, respiratory infections and according to the CDC, hand washing reduces the number of sick people with stomach bugs by 31% and the number of people with colds by 16-21%.

At ServiceMaster Clean, we’re big advocates for ensuring everyone knows about good hand washing practice.

The proper handwashing practice

Follow this simple guide to good hand washing to help remove as many germs as possible…

  • Wet your hands under warm clean running water
  • Apply soap and create a lather by rubbing your hands together – using regular soap as opposed to antibacterial is just as effective if used correctly
  • Spread the lather across your hands, onto the backs of your hands, in between your fingers for at least 20 seconds
  • With soapy hands, grip the fingers on each hand, clean in the creases of your thumbs and press your fingertips into your palms to get under your fingernails
  • Rinse your hands well under clean running water
  • Dry your hands well on a clean towel or air dryer and make sure they are completely dry!
  • Turn off the tap using your clean towel remember your dirty hands just turned the tap on
  • Dispose of the paper towel responsibly by recycling where you can

good handwashing

What about hand sanitiser?

Hand sanitisers are a great addition to your germ-killing arsenal! Most sanitisers do not kill all germs so they should be used as an additional resource rather than instead of a good hand wash.

With a good squirt of hand sanitiser in one palm, rub your hands together well and spread it over your hands and fingernails until it’s dry.

If you’ve experienced an outbreak of a virus in the office, you can always call on ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services to provide a deep-clean and fully sanitise of the property. Click here to find your local ServiceMaster Clean.

Considering we spend most of our lives at work, having a clean, germ-free office is important for many different reasons.

Let’s fight back against those pesky germs, have a cleaner and healthier office!

1.  Dirty Doors

Starting from the entrance to your office building, a door handle or door/lift button has a large number of bacteria, due to the number of people walking in and out of the building every day.

The door handle in your office that has the most germs is guaranteed to be the toilet door handle. A few surveys over the last few years have revealed that one in four of the UK population does not wash their hands after going to the toilet! YUCK!

TipUse anti-bacterial gel as much as you can.

2.  Filthy Fridge

With healthier eating becoming more popular, staff are starting to bring their own lunch into the office more and popping it into the office fridge.

A lot of staff then not surprisingly forget about what they put in the fridge, because instead, they feel like going out with their work colleagues.

The food is then left to go mouldy and the office fridge is one of those places that you just don’t think to clean.

Tip Introduce a fridge cleaning schedule to your employees to clean out unwanted food every week.

3.  Dusty Desk & Phone

The most amount of time in any office workers day is spent at their desk, so no wonder this area has the most germs throughout the whole of the office! Yes, even dirtier than the office toilets!

Your office phone can be the dirtiest item in the office, so keeping it clean is very important for a healthier workplace.

Another germ thriving culprit is your pen, the reason being a lot of us chew it! I am one of those pen chewing culprits, so shame on me!

Tip #1 Wipe your desk phone every morning with an anti-bacterial wipe.
Tip #2 Stop chewing your pen! I solemnly swear I will stop, only if you do as well though!

4.  Messy Mouse & Keyboard

Your mouse and keyboard alone can have more bacteria per square inch than a toilet seat!

If you work on a hot-desk, then the number of bacteria only increases and it isn’t just your bacteria! YUCK!

Tip Use anti-bacterial wipes or a cleaning spray, then wipe your keyboard and mouse with a clean tissue.

5.  Germ Riddling Rucksack

Yes, your rucksack has a surprising number of germs on it! The reasons for this being, your bag is put down all over the office, including sometimes the toilet floor.

Tip Keep hold of your bag until you get to your desk and clean your bag every so often at home.

6.  Mucky Mug

There is always that lonely mug that is sat on someone’s desk at the end of the day, while all his other mug friends are in the dishwasher, or all cleaned, sitting comfortably on the side.

That mug left on the desk is then used again the next day without being washed! That is a big no no and this particular person in the office needs to get out of this habit!

TipRinse your mug after every cuppa, and at the end of the day make sure it is put in the dishwasher or washed up!

7.  Germ Polluted Printer

Your printer and/or photocopier is used a lot during a day’s work by a numerous amount of people. So, the buttons on these items are riddling with germs by the end of the day!

TipJust give it a wipe again with an anti-bacterial wipe, after every time you use it. If you start this habit, others should follow you!

8. Water Cooler

The dirtiest thing in your office may surprise you, it is the water cooler! With this being used the most in the office and staff standing around chatting, germs are spread around the water cooler more than any other place in the office!

Tip – Just give the water cooler a wipe every day, especially the nozzle, just with a wet cloth.

Bonus Germ Hotspot – Gruesome Guests

A bonus germ hotspot for you is the guests that come to your office! You know your workers, their habits and how often they clean, but with guests, you have no idea!

The guest that has just walked through your door could have just been wrestling pigs in a pig-pen and only rinsed his hands and not washed them properly, therefore riddling with germs!

Tip Offer your guest a drink and hope they say yes so you can secretly go and wash your hands or use some anti-bacterial hand gel.

Here are ServiceMaster Clean UK we can take over your office cleaning and make sure all of these hotspots are cleaned thoroughly apart from the guests obviously!

To find your local ServiceMaster Clean UK click here.

Top 5 ways to declutter your workspace

We spend more time at work during our lifetime than we do at home. So, having a tidy workspace is important for morale, work productivity and efficiency.

There are some ways that you can keep your workspace tidy in an office and here are the top 5 for you to take away and implement in your office.

Workspace

1. Make your desk your own

If your company allows it, decorate your desk with photos of your family or a nice little desk plant. If you make your workspace as personal as you can, you are statistically more likely to increase your work productivity and enjoy your work life that little bit more.

2. File your documents

Having an effective filing system within your workspace is important to keep the clutter at a minimum. Use an in and out stacked tray system, however, don’t let this pile up too much as this will cause more desk clutter.

File away the completed documents in your company’s filing area, or if the paper is not needed, throw it in the recycling bin!

3. Have a home for everything

Having a home for everything like a pen pot here, personal items popped in your drawer and the use of the in/out tray will contribute towards a decluttered workspace. If you place certain things in different places though make sure you have remembered where you have put them, you don’t want to clutter up your desk to search for something!

4. Useful things should be in reach

If you have your pen pot over the other side of the desk and you have to lean over to get it and knock your morning coffee all over your paperwork, you have a bit of a problem here, don’t you!

Make sure all of the items you need are in an arm’s reach to where you are sitting, so, one you are not stretching and straining yourself and two to not knock over a drink or another item on your desk.

5. Keep it clean, to keep you keen

At the end of each day, all you need to do is give your desk a quick spray and wipe with a cleaning cloth. Then tidy your desk by stacking your paper neatly and taking your cups to the office kitchen. It takes no more than 5 minutes so you have no excuse!

For all of your office cleaning needs, contact your local ServiceMaster Clean today. Find your local office here.