Most businesses have a break room or kitchen where employees can enjoy their lunches and take coffee breaks. If these spaces are not taken care of and allowed to remain messy with debris and food particles, they can breed bacteria, germs, and mould.
Additionally, in an office, many different people come into contact with communal surfaces in a break room or kitchen, which allows for much faster travel of germs and illnesses. Regular office cleaning is an important part of creating a pleasant work environment for everyone.
How Messy Office Kitchens Happen
Most offices have multiple employees, and dependant on the location of the building and its proximity to food courts or restaurants, many of them will bring their lunches and snacks from home. This can lead to multiple plastic reusable containers being forgotten in the communal fridge or around the break room, sometimes with food left in them. After a while, this can cause things to go bad and produce unpleasant smells.
Additionally, microwaves are commonly used for employees to warm up their lunches, which can sometimes overflow or splatter. If these spills aren’t regularly cleaned, they can bake on and also begin to mould or cause unpleasant smells, as well as become extremely hard to clean off.
Without firm rules and schedules for cleaning, your office’s kitchen can easily turn from a place of relaxation to a mess no one wants to deal with. To keep your kitchen welcoming (and sanitary) it’s important to have cleanliness rules that everyone in the office follows.
Clean Up After Yourself
With a shared space, it’s important to remember that many people will be coming in and out of the break room or kitchen, and messes can get out of hand quickly. While sometimes certain employees can be in charge of keeping the kitchen tidy, the best way to ensure the space stays clean is to instruct employees to always clean up after themselves, even if a cleaning crew comes once in a while.
This includes washing dishes and utensils, cleaning up spills, and wiping down counters. Also, make sure that any food or drinks aren’t left out to avoid attracting insects or rodents.
Create a Cleaning Schedule
Beyond fridges and microwaves, anywhere where people eat can gather crumbs, stains, and spills, so it is beneficial to clean the space as often as possible. Creating a cleaning schedule can assist with this, so employees know when they need to bring home old containers or pitch in to tidy the space. An example of this is appointing a department or specific employee to tackle a certain component once a week or so, like wiping down the microwave and going through the refrigerator.
Appoint a “Kitchen Marshal”
If employees are having a hard time sticking to a schedule or maintaining a clean communal break room, appointing one person in charge of keeping the kitchen tidy can help. They can oversee the general cleanliness of the room, and monitor to ensure employees are cleaning up after themselves and doing their part.
Hire a Professional Cleaning Service
Keeping the kitchen clean is important to maintain the hygiene of your office. If your staff are generally good at keeping tidy, it is still important to clean those hard to reach places every once in a while to ward off bacteria build-up.
A professional cleaning service can help you to pick up the messes that your employees may have missed in their day-to-day interactions in the kitchen, as well as deep-clean any communal areas. If you’re interested in professional cleaning services for your office, contact us today. At Picture Perfect Cleaning, we pride ourselves on delivering unparalleled service for a fair price.
