When it comes to keeping your office clean, the most effective approach will often involve multiple different tactics.
While part of this will revolve around employing a competent cleaning team from somewhere like SMC Premier, you also need to get your employees to pull their weight as well. Here, we take a look at how you can get your staff to stick to the office cleaning checklist, from making the list accessible to assigning clear responsibility.
Make it clear how important cleanliness is
One of the most effective ways of getting staff to stick to the cleaning checklist is to clearly communicate just how important cleanliness is in the workplace. Communicate how cleaning is important for a number of different reasons, from health and safety to productivity. When people understand why they’re doing something, they’re a lot more likely to stick to it and do a good job.
Accessibility
Next, you need to ensure that the cleaning checklist is accessible. You should have it posted in a range of relevant locations, so that employees don’t have to go searching to find it. Have laminated copies in spaces such as the kitchen, bathroom, and other common areas. If those reminders are constantly around, people are a lot less likely to forget than if there’s just one checklist hidden in a cupboard somewhere.
Keep things simple
You want to make sure that you don’t overwhelm your staff. Don’t have a thousand different points on the checklist – it should cover the basics, and little more than that. For example, separate tasks like cleaning the toaster, kettle and microwave can simply be covered by ‘appliances’. The less amount of text that people have to read through, the more likely they are to do the task at hand.
Assign clear responsibility
With tasks like cleaning, people tend to find it a lot easier to ignore them if responsibility isn’t clearly delineated. Make a fair rota, and make it so that people can clearly see when it’s their day to clean a certain area, perhaps by keeping the rota next to the checklist. That way, people can keep each other accountable, and it’s easier for everyone to know what they need to take care of and when.
Keep cleaning supplies handy
For people to clean properly, they need the right tools for the job. It’s important to keep a good stock of cleaning supplies in handy locations around the office, so that people don’t have to go searching for anything.
This will make the job a lot quicker, increasing the likelihood that people actually get around to it. It’ll also mean that your staff are able to clean things to a far higher standard, rather than just moving around the dust and calling it a day.
Getting your staff involved with keeping the office clean can be both practically beneficial and a way of creating a more positive company culture. By considering the points listed above, you should be able to achieve your goal of collective accountability without too much hassle.
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