Maintaining an impeccably clean office is about more than just presenting an air of professionalism to clients and guests. It’s also an essential part of maintaining a productive working environment for your employees.
At first glance, a neatly arranged desk, with a dust-free computer, tidy, clean bookshelves, a polished desktop, and clean floors, looks nice. It shows off pride in professionalism that other employees, clients, and customers will notice.
In stark contrast, a dirty and unkempt office with disheveled paperwork, plump full waste bins, and litter scattered at random can demotivate other employees while discouraging visitors. Not to mention sending the wrong message to all the right people.
Ultimately, a clean professional office environment improves focus as well as boosts overall productivity. To better understand why we will have to take a granular look at the benefits of maintaining a professionally clean office environment.
How Office Cleanliness Boosts Confidence & Employee Morale
There are ways that office Cleanliness boosts employee confidence. This starts with how it boosts the professional mood. Everyone feels the drive to be more on-point when performing their duties in an impeccably clean office space.
At the same time office cleanliness also influences employee morale. As a thoroughly clean office provides a clear mindset to all employees who will focus more on production. Not to mention preventing the loss of productive man-hours spent on cleaning up cluttered office messes.
A clean office also helps dissuade frustration in employees who might also feel undervalued in an unkempt office space.
A Reduction in Employee Absences
There’s no doubt about it. A clean office workplace is less likely to harbor germs, dust, allergens, and mold spores. When these pathogens and contaminants are left to linger in an unclean office, you inevitably see an increase in employee sick days and productivity lost to illness.
There’s also an increased risk of accidents and liability issues in an unkempt office. Slips falls and office injuries can lead to massive loss of productivity as well as workman comp claims.
Any time employees get sick, or injured production will definitely decline. This can further hamper employee morale, as no one wants to work in an office that’s continually short on manpower.
Yet a clean, and well-maintained workplace proactively prevents these problems. While also encouraging employees to work more, which further causes production levels to rise.
Showing Pride in Professionalism
Just like how a well-maintained house or car shows pride in ownership, a clean office shows pride in professionalism. Even something as simple as a thoughtfully arranged office with comfortable seating and clean shelves portrays a confident, professional image to potential clients and office guests.
When this elevated level of cleanliness and organization spreads throughout an office environment it also boosts the confidence of other employees. Making them want to work even smarter and harder to drive performance to the max.
It Cultivates Creativity
A clean office will also go a long way toward cultivating creativity among employees. People in creative services often do better when they can find what they need to capture an idea when the moment of inspiration strikes. When creative people have to scrounge around for what they need in a disorganized and dirty office
Improving Employee Concentration
Of course, creative people aren’t the only ones who thrive in a clean and organized office Even people with more concrete-minded work duties thrive and have a better attitude in a neat and tidy workspace.
This also reduces disturbances, which allows everyone to focus on production rather than dealing with ambient clutter. A clean workplace also encourages an employee culture where all litter is dropped into bins and no desks are left unkempt.
Office Cleanliness Promotes Safety
Office safety is an utmost priority in every workplace. Each piece of equipment needs to be put in its proper place to prevent accidents. Proper floor cleaning also greatly reduces the risk of employees and guests suffering serious slips and falls.
Thorough cleaning and organizing a workplace will also go a long way toward preventing injury and property damage from falling objects, accidental spills, and other preventable random hazards.
Of course, all these cleaning and organizing efforts in the workplace will also help limit you and your executive staff from liability issues. When you maintain a clean and tidy property, it demonstrates a concerted effort toward safety and cleanliness that won’t go unnoticed by inspectors and OSHA personnel.
How to Improve Office Cleanliness & Organization
The first step in improving office cleanliness starts with employee awareness. Cultivating a culture of cleanliness and organization is self-reinforcing throughout the entire building. This might even include some simple employee training on basic cleaning procedures and setting up protocols like cleaning out the office refrigerator every Friday.
Provide Ample Access to Cleaning Supplies
An employee who has to walk 100 feet to get a rag is more likely to leave an accidental spill than if the rag is close at hand. By providing cleaning supply stations throughout high-traffic areas, like the kitchenette or the breakroom, employees become more willing to clean up after themselves and keep things tidy.
Hire a Professional Custodial Staff
While most people are willing to wipe up after themselves when they have a rag close at hand, the average employee typically doesn’t have the experience, training, and exposure to handle more major cleaning tasks. Even if they tried, chances are good they’d have a problem and their time is better spent on performing their duties rather than learning how to run a floor polisher.
That’s why so many companies that thrive thanks to improved office cleanliness will hire out a third-party cleaning company like Building Services Inc. You get the peace of mind that comes with knowing highly trained, experienced cleaning technicians are doing an impeccable job of cleaning and maintaining your workplace. Your employees get to thrive in a clean, organized environment, and you will be able to see productivity increase steadily over time.
