5 Tips to Keep a Clean and Healthy Office Environment

In the workplace, we are all constantly looking for ways to increase productivity and promote a healthy environment for employees, clients, and business partners. As they say: cleanliness is next to godliness.

A clean work environment helps you stay organized, work efficiently, and provides a healthy place where you and your coworkers can feel comfortable every day. In fact, a clean workplace can result in a 2-8% increase in productivity.

For help with achieving better productivity, The Heiser Group has 5 tips to help you keep a clean and healthy office environment:

1. Disinfect Everyday

In the workplace, germs build up quickly thanks to many shared tools and surfaces, along with the trading of papers and supplies between many people. This makes it extremely easy for one sick person to pass along germs and quickly lead to a room full of sick people.

Things like refrigerator doors, microwaves, vending machines, copiers, prints, water fountains, staplers and other office supplies, and the many surfaces in the bathroom are the most common places where germs are spread.

Besides constantly washing your hands with soap and water, an easy, quick remedy is to disinfect consistently by keeping a bottle of basic hand sanitizer at your desk. In addition, a container of disinfectant wipes will let you quickly clean hard surfaces, along with anything else you touch in the office.

2. Clean Your Carpets and Floors Regularly

With the many small office supplies (like staples and paper clips) moving around, the floor tends to be the place with the most debris buildup. If you prefer to eat your lunch or snacks at your desk, then this is especially true for the crumbs and spills that call the floor under your desk, “home”.

For carpets, there are a multitude of different cleaning strategiesdepending on what the stain or mess you’re trying to clean up. When it comes to basic crumbs and fallen litter, keeping a small vacuum around your desk will do the trick. For stains or lingering smells from uncleaned messes of the past, a small spot cleaner may be the way to go. To maintain fresh carpet upkeep, do both of these things regularly.

On the other hand, vacuuming can work just as well with hard floors, such as wood and tile. Depending on the type of floor you have, different chemicals and cleaning techniqueswill work to disinfect, clean, and brighten up a workspace.

If the job exists beyond the realm of just your desk, it may be time to look into professional help.

3. Minimize Clutter

The best way to keep a well-maintained desktop is to minimize the clutter from desk decorations, gadgets, and paper.

While a touch of personality from decorations and small toys is a great way to liven up your workspace, too much can make it difficult to clean dust build-up and misplaced supplies.

4. Go Digital

Going fully digital with your files and documents is a great way to reduce clutter, reduce your imprint on the environment, and create a stress-free work environment for both your colleagues and yourself. Start scanning important documents to keep on your computer, work through word processors like Google Docsand Microsoft Word, and rely on apps like PandaDoc to keep track of your most important documents.

If paperless is not an option, look into the different organizers to maintain a physical inbox system for your desk, while keeping the majority of your desktop as clear as possible.

5. Schedule a Time for Cleaning

The easiest way to develop a habit is by doing it consistently and continuously. In order to get the most out of your workspace, schedule a block of time every day, every week, or every month, exclusively dedicated to tidying up. And it doesn’t have to be boring, use different incentives and methods like rewards for the cleanliest workspace, cleaning competitions, or make your dedicated deep-cleaning day an office-wide event.

In order to make this day successful, make it as easy as possible for the office to clean their spaces by providing many waste bins throughout, have an abundance of available cleaning supplies, and thoroughly communicate to the team that it is time to clean.

GO WITH THE PROFESSIONALS

Sometimes you need to call on the experts. If a job gets out of the scope of routine cleaning, go with the pros at The Heiser Group and let us give you the clean, stress-free work environment you need to keep your company at your best.

To take the first step towards a sparkling clean office environment, send us a message at HeiserGroup.com.

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