5 Top Tips for Maintaining a Clean and Safe Business Environment

Posted on May 28, 2024

Boost productivity and reduce employee sick days with JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting in New Castle. Our Certified Unit Franchise offers guaranteed quality from a highly-trained and experienced team of commercial cleaners.

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The Benefits of a Clean Workplace

Whether you’re using in-house janitorial services or outsourcing your commercial cleaning, an immaculate work environment grants the following benefits to your workplace:

Enhanced Safety and Security

A dirty work environment is a dangerous one. The most obvious hazards are slips and falls from dirt accumulated on floors and stairs or clutter in common traffic areas.

Many businesses that invest in keeping their business clean have fewer employee compensation claims.

However, an unsanitary facility also poses an unseen threat. Without regular cleaning and disinfecting, germs and allergens accumulate on surfaces and carpets.

When you hire a Certified Franchisee from JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting in New Castle, you’ll see a decrease in the number of sick days your employees take.

Consistent Brand Image

Cleanliness communicates subtle clues about your brand and what your company values. Your customers will know that you care, and with every nook and cranny free of dust, they’ll know you’ve considered every last important detail and that you will provide a high level of service.

5 Best Practices for a Clean Work Environment

If you want all the benefits of a clean office environment, implement these five best practices for keeping your workplace sanitary and safe. These suggestions include developing a detailed schedule and hiring professional cleaning services.

1. Develop a Detailed Schedule

The first step in keeping your workplace clean is developing a detailed schedule for both your average staff and your dedicated cleaning crew. You should identify your goals for having a clean work environment and then split your needs into the following tasks:

  • Daily: You can schedule many simple daily tasks that maintain an adequate level of cleanliness for your facilities. Important daily tasks include wiping down high-traffic surfaces, restocking bathroom supplies, properly disposing of trash, and sweeping hard flooring.
  • Weekly: If you want more than a minimal level of cleanliness, you should also prioritize important weekly tasks. These include vacuuming and mopping, dusting low surfaces, disinfecting high-traffic areas, and organizing your inventory or supplies.
  • Monthly: Monthly tasks for cleaning your office include carpet cleaning, window washing, deep cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen, and organizing all desk drawers and storage spaces.
  • Less frequent: Depending on the type of business you run, you may find that doing the monthly tasks quarterly or twice a year provides acceptable results. Other tasks you can complete a few times a year include sweeping your parking lot or garage, cleaning your ductwork, and waxing your hard flooring.

2. Educate and Motivate

Even if you have a dedicated janitorial staff or outsource your cleaning needs, a supportive workforce makes everyone’s job easier and creates a more positive experience.

When you educate your employees about the best cleaning methods and habits and empower and encourage them to participate in the office cleaning schedule, your company will experience a higher level of cleanliness.

Once you establish your cleaning schedule, you can post the daily tasks in common places like bathrooms, break rooms, and supply closets.

You can use motivational phrases to remind your staff of the importance of pitching in to keep the workplace clean. If you have an employee of the month program, consider how much helping keep the workplace clean demonstrates teamwork and dedication.

You can empower your staff to keep their areas clean with the following practices:

  • Educate: Provide basic training about the best supplies and techniques to use for each task. Also, help your employees understand and desire the benefits of a clean workplace.
  • Equip:
  • Provide the best cleaning supplies and equipment so your staff can clean efficiently without effort. With accessible and powerful cleaning supplies, each employee can perform five minutes of cleaning at the end of the day without much effort.
  • Encourage: Keeping your employees excited about cleaning makes it seem like you need to add more tasks to their job description. You could offer incentives ranging from simple verbal praise and recognition to bonuses if the clean environment boosts productivity.

Relying on employees works best if everyone takes responsibility. Ensure everyone pitches in, from your lowest employees to your CEO.

3. Identify At-Risk Areas

Identifying the areas that require cleaning the most, can help you refine your schedule. When you hire professional cleaning services, you can customize it according to the type of jobs and frequency you need.

Your high-traffic areas need daily cleaning, and prioritizing these areas helps you optimize your investment and maximize the benefits you receive. The most common at-risk areas for your workplace include:

  • Bathrooms pose the greatest threat of breeding bacteria, developing distracting smells, and causing calamity if they run out of supplies.
  • Cubicles, offices, conference rooms, and any other space your employees frequently gather or spend the majority of their day quickly accumulate germs, litter, and dirt. Organize and wipe down these surfaces at the end of every day.
  • Break rooms and communal kitchens also provide ample opportunity for unhealthy messes. From food rotting in the fridge to a mound of dirty coffee cups, you should clean these spaces at the end of each day.

4. Maintain Clear Boundaries

As part of educating your staff, set clear boundaries about where they can eat, drink, and congregate so you don’t have to spread out your cleaning efforts.

For example, if you give them ample time for work and encourage them to take breaks, you can keep all food in the kitchen or break room rather than dealing with food crumbs and wrappers at every desk.

Encourage them to use non-spill mugs for coffee so they don’t stain the carpet and avoid having sticky drinks like juice or pop outside the common areas.

Try keeping gatherings of more than three or four people in high-traffic areas so you’re not frequently disinfecting rooms that shouldn’t need it.

5. Outsource Your Cleaning

The best thing you can do to maintain a high level of cleanliness in your workplace is to outsource your commercial cleaning needs to an independent contractor with JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting in New Castle.

You’ll gain a higher level of cleanliness than you would from an in-house janitorial staff, you won’t distract your employees from their regular job duties, and you’ll save money in the long term by avoiding payroll, benefits, and buying more than basic cleaning supplies.

Our certified franchisees can provide the following cleaning services and more:

  • Office cleaning services include all the basic janitorial needs and daily tasks that provide a minimal level of cleanliness to your business.
  • Window cleaning services help the sunlight stream through without distraction and show you have attention to detail.
  • Floor and carpet cleaning services prevent buildup that could pose a safety issue, attract pests, and breed bacteria.
  • Disinfection cleaning kills germs and helps your employees and visitors stay healthy.

When you partner with an Independent Contractor, you can choose the type of service and how often you require it.

For example, if your employees do a great job with daily cleaning tasks, you can have the cleaning crew come weekly and monthly for more detailed cleaning.

You can also determine when they will come. Many businesses feel that cleaning during the workday distracts their employees.

When you schedule services after regular business hours or on weekends, you gain all the benefits of quality cleaning without the drawbacks.

Book Your Certified Business Owner Today

Are you ready to claim all the benefits that come with hiring professional cleaning services? When you partner with a Certified Unit Franchise from JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting in New Castle, you’re making an intelligent investment for your company. We guarantee a superior level of cleanliness.

By filling out this online form, you can contact your nearest JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting franchisee in New Castle. We’ll then set you up for a free estimate.